UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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OUR  TARIFF 

Why  Levied  and  Why  Continued 


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OUR  TARIFF. 


WHY  LEVIED  AND  WHY  CONTINUED. 

THE  REASONS  WHY 

THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE  WISH  TO  PAY  BETTER 
WAGES  THAN  ARE  PAID  IN  EUROPE ; 

ALSO 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  COBDEN  CLUB. 

BY  r- 

JACOB  HAKPJS  PATTON,  M.A.;  Ph.D., 

Author  of  "A  Concise  History  of  the  American  People;''''  "Natural  Re- 
sources of  the  United  States;''''  "  The  YorTctown  Memorial  (1781- 
1881) "  The  Democratic  Party— Its  Political  His- 
tory and  Influence"  Etc. 


NEW  YORK: 

The  Americax  Protective  Tariff  League, 

No.  23  West  Twenty-third  Street. 
1887. 


Copyright,  1887, 
By  JACOB  HARRIS  PATTON. 


WILLIAM  GREEN, 

Printer,  Electrotyper  and  Binder, 
324,  326  and  328  Pearl  Street, 

NEW  YORE. 


PREFACE. 


This  booklet  was  written  to  bring  before  the  minds  of  in- 
telligent Americans— whether  employers  or  employed— the 
reasons  why  the  tariff  or  tax  was  imposed  upon  foreign  pro- 
ducts or  property,  in  order  to  obtain  funds  for  defraying  the 
expenses  of  the  National  Government.  That  mode  of  rais- 
ing this  special  revenue  being  less  burdensome  to  the  people; 
and  also  to  show  the  beneficial  influence  of  such  trariff  upon 
our  mechanical  industries,  and  through  their  extension  and 
success,  the  benefits  that  accrue  to  our  own  workpeople. 

I.  It  is  shown  why  our  tariff  was  imposed— because  that 

when  we  became  a  nation,  it  was  necessary  to  bear  the 
expenses  of  two  separate  governments. 

II.  That  while  the  term  protection  may  be  misinterpreted 
and  so  used  as  to  mislead,  our  tariff  of  to-day  is  pre- 
eminently designed  to  equalize  the  cost  of  production  ; 
that  is,  to  counterbalance  the  low  wages  paid  work- 
people in  Europe. 

III.  That  property  in  the  form  of  imported  merchandise 
ought  to  bear  a  proportionate  share  of  the  expenses  of 
government,  as  well  as  property  in  the  form  of  real  es- 

^  tate,  and  that  a  tax  levied  upon  the  former,  benefits  the 


4 


PREFACE. 


people  of  the  entire  Union— rich  and  poor;  the  employer 
and  the  employed. 

IV.  That  our  present  tariff  has  in  view  two  objects  equally 
important :  one,  to  so  adjust  its  rates  as  to  induce  capi- 
talists to  invest  in  manufacturing;  the  other,  to  aid  our 
own  workpeople  by  furnishing  them  employment  at  re- 
munerative wages. 

V.  It  is  shown  that  from  85  to  90  per  cent  of  the  cost  of 
American  manufacturing,  is  paid  for  the  labor  of  those 
employed,  while  in  Europe — in  consequence  of  low 
wages— only  about  30  to  35  per  cent  of  such  cost  goes 
into  the  hands  of  the  employes. 

VI.  A  brief  history  is  also  given  of  the  avowed  purpose,  and 
of  the  efforts  made  at  different  times — from  1815  to  the 
Cobden  Club  of  to-day— by  British  manufacturers  and 
merchants,  aided  by  their  American  allies,  to  break 
down  the  mechanical  industries  of  the  United  States. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Section  I. — The  Two  Governments   7 

The  Forms  of  Application,  8— The  Three  Theories,  8— 
Effects  Produced,  9— The  Summary,  10— The  Eesult,  11— 
The  Competitors,  11 — Facts  Worth  Remembering,  12. 

Section  II.— Protection  for  the  Workpeople   14 

A  Change  of  Base,  14— Political  Equality,  15— The  Effects 
of  Common  Schools,  15 — An  Englishman's  View,  16 — In- 
terest and  Duty,  17. 

Section  III. — Advantages  to  be  Transferred   18 

The  National  Policy,  19— The  Transfers,  20. 

Section  IV.— England  wishes  Free  Trade...   22 

The  Comparison,  22 — Raw  Material  Sometimes  Taxed,  23 
— Difference  in  Appreciation,  24 — The  Irishman's  Revenge, 
25— Misrule  and  Votes,  26. 

Section  V.— The  Two  Kinds  of  Capital   28 

Capital,  Whence  Derived,  28 — The  Two  Investments,  29 
— Distribution  of  Wealth,  30 — Standing  Armies,  30 — The 
Farmer's  Grievances,  31— Two  Illustrations,  32. 

Section  VI.— The  Real  Effect  of  the  Tariff  of  1846   33 

English  Views,  33— The  Effect  of  Finding  Gold,  34— Tac- 
tics of  Theorists,  35 — Interest  and  Sympathy,  36 — The  Ret- 
rograde and  the  Advance,  36. 

Section  VII. — The  Philanthropic  Theory   38 

Reciprocity  Treaties,  38— A  Tariff  Based  on  Wages,  39 — 
An  Equal  Basis  of  Cost,  40 — A  Worthy  End  to  be  Secured, 
40 — Misleading  Statements,  41 — Luxuries,  42. 

Section  VIII.— Wages   ,   43 

The  Illustrations,  43— Shipyards,  44— Statements  of  Ex~ 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

perts,  44 — A  Further  Illustration,  45 — The  Virtual  Protec- 
tion, 45 — Report  on  Wages  Paid  in  Europe,  46 — Efforts  not 
Relaxed,  47. 

Section  IX.— Low  Wages,  How  Caused   48 

The  Discussion,  49 — Results  of  Low  Wages,  49 — The  Cor- 
rupting Influences,  50 — The  Disclaimer,  51 — National  Train- 
ing, 51. 

Section  X. — Wages  Seek  Their  Level   53 

Cure  of  Overproduction,  53 — Higher  Wages,  54 — Con- 
trast in  Populations,  55 — Employment  of  Females,  56— Kind  1 
and  Unkind  Treatment,  56 — The  Contrast ;  Paisley  and 
Willimantic,  57 — Workpeople's  Library  and  Recreation,  58 
— John  Bright's  Lament,  59. 

Section  XL— Buy  Where  You  can  Pay  Easiest   61 

Workingmen's  Views,  62— Higher  Wages;  Higher  Prices, 
62— Savings  Banks,  63. 

Section  XII. — Successful   Industries  .  Benefit  all  the 

Workpeople    64 

Mutual  Interests,  64 — Home  Competition,  65— The  Bal- 
ance of  Trade,  66— Effects  of  Low  and  High  Tariffs,  67. 

Section  XIII. —Development  of  Our  Resources   69 

Harmony  Needed,  69— The  Misleading  Term,  70. 

Section  XIV. — English  Efforts  to  Ruin  American  Man- 
ufacturers  72 

The  Unique  History,  23— Lord  Brougham's  Suggestions, 
74— The  Mode  of  Operations,  75 — Reasons  for  Alarm,  75 — 
Mr.  Thorneley's  Report,  76— Sympathy  for  the  Rebellion,  76 
—An  Englishman's  Remarks,  77— The  Bland  Advice,  77— 
The  People  Constitute  the  State,  77— The  Retort,  78— Quo- 
tations from  Blackwood,  78. 

Section  XV.— The  Cobden  Club   80 

The  Obstruction,  80— The  Jubilant  Dinner,  81— Medals  to 
American  Students,  82 — Benevolence  of  the  Cobden  Club, 
83— The  Animus  of  the  Club,  83— The  Singular  Advice,  85 
—Tactics  of  the  Club,  85— The  Conclusion,  86. 


Our  Tariff. 


l 

The  Two  Governments. 

The  present  government  of  the  United  States  took  a  na- 
tional form  under  its  constitution  when  George  Washing- 
ton was  inaugurated  President  in  1789.  Immediately 
questions  arose  in  respect  to  the  manner  of  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  young  nation  thus  called  into  existence ;  only 
one  of  these  we  now  propose  to  notice— that  in  relation  to 
defraying  its  expenses.  There  were  now,  instead  of  thirteen, 
two  distinct  governments  to  be  supported  by  taxation— the 
national  and  that  of  the  separate  States — there  were,  like- 
wise, two  distinct  classes  of  property  that  could  be  made 
subjects  of  this  taxation;  the  one  coming  into  the  Union 
in  the  form  of  importations  of  merchandise  from  foreign 
countries,  the  other  the  land  or  real  estate.  As  the  States 
had  conceded  the  control  of  foreign  affairs  to  congress  alone, 
it  was  fitting  and  in  consequence  so  arranged  as  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  national  government  by  means  of  a 
tariff  or  tax  levied  upon  these  importations,  while  the  ex- 
penses of  the  State  governments  were  to  be  met  by  one  levied 
upon  the  land  or  real  estate.  {Hist.  American  People,  pp. 
573,  576.)  This  was  the  general  theory  on  the  subject,  the 
details  being  left  for  future  adjustment  as  time  and  experi- 
ence dictated.  It  is  strange  that  this  historical  fact  is  so 
little  recognized  by  the  mass  of  ordinary  intelligent  men, 


8 


OUR  TARIFF. 


and  indeed  of  all  those  who  have  not  sufficiently  studied  the 
subject.  Great  numbers,  taking  their  cue  from  certain 
writers  and  speakers,  seem  to  think  that  somehow  this 
tariff  or  tax  on  foreign  goods  or  merchandise  was  imposed 
in  the  interest  of  the  American  manufacturer,  rather  than 
to  supply  funds  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  National 
government,  and  thus  benefiting  the  people  at  large. 

The  Forms  of  Application.— This  system  has  supplied  am- 
ple funds  for  these  expenses,  except  only  when  untoward 
causes  increased  the  liabilities  of  the  National  government. 
Then  in  order  to  obtain  revenue,  it  became  necessary  to  avail 
itself  of  an  internal  tax,  while  the  States  meet  a  deficiency 
when  it  occurs  by  simply  increasing  the  rate  of  taxation  in 
proportion  to  their  needs.  The  latter  system  having  only 
one  object  in  view— to  raise  the  necessary  funds — is  com- 
paratively simple,  but  the  former,  having  several  ends  to 
attain,  is  in  consequence  very  complex.  For  illustration: 
we  import  manufactured  goods,  and  often  of  classes  we 
make  ourselves,  so  that  it  becomes  essential  to  adjust  the 
tax  or  tariff  on  these  importations  in  such  manner  as  to 
raise  the  desired  revenue,  and  at  the  same  time  not  in- 
jure the  industries  of  our  own  workpeople.  It  seems  the 
fairest  mode  of  adjusting  the  difficulty  would  be  in  so  ar- 
ranging the  rate  of  this  tax — called  tariff  when  applied  to 
imported  property — as  to  equalize  the  cost  of  production  of 
the  various  classes  of  these  manufactured  articles  when 
laid  in  our  market. 

The  Three  Theories. — In  this  discussion  three  theories 
present  themselves :  First,  "  free  trade,"  according  to  which 
no  duties  at  all  are  to  be  levied  on  imported  foreign  mer- 
chandise or  property;  the  second,  " exclusively  for  public 
purposes"  or  "for  revenue  only;"  The  latter's  primary 
object  being  to  impose  on  these  importations  such  rates  of 
duty  as  to  secure  the  most  money  for  the  United  States 
treasury.  In  addition,  the  effects  produced  by  these  rates 
of  duty  upon  those  industries  of  the  people  that  come  in 


THE  TWO  GOVERNMENTS. 


9 


competition  with  similar  ones  of  Europe,  are  deemed  only 
of  secondary  importance,  which  idea  the  advocates  of  this 
theory  have  sometimes  expressed  by  the  term  ' '  Incidental 
protection,"  or  more  recently  by  the  apologetic  phrase,  "  it 
is  not  proposed  to  injure  any  domestic  industries.' '  These 
two  theories  we  shall  treat  as  nearly  one  and  the  same, 
since  when  put  in  operation  they  have  produced  similar 
results.  That  they  are  intimately  connected  in  their  in- 
fluence is  well  understood  by  their  respective  advocates, 
who  are  both  consistent  when  they  virtually  sustain  each 
other  in  every  election  that  may  have  a  bearing  directly  on 
our  mechanical  industries  or  indirectly  on  the  financial 
measures  of  the  government. 

The  third  theory,  for  want  of  a  more  correct  definition,  is 
briefly  called  "  Protection,"  but  which  is  more  clearly  de- 
fined when  designated  as  a  measure  to  "  equalize  the  cost  of 
production"  The  application  of  this  theory  is  designed  for 
articles  manufactured  in  Europe  which  are  similar  to  those 
made  in  the  United  States— that  is,  to  so  levy  the  tax  or 
duty  as  to  secure  the  requisite  amount  of  revenue,  while  at 
the  same  time  making  that  feature  secondary  to  the  policy  of 
encouraging  our  mechanical  industries,  and,  what  is  in- 
finitely more  important,  affording  employment  to  the  peo- 
ple who  work  for  wages— estimated  by  political  economists 
to  be  three-fourths  of  our  adult  population.  So  many  of  our 
farmers  owning  the  land  that  they  cultivate,  makes  this 
ratio  less  in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe. 

Effects  Produced.— It  may  not  be  without  profit  to  show 
concisely  the  different  effects  produced  by  carrying  out  in 
practice  the  theories  of  free  trade  and  for  revenue  only. 
Practically,  there  is  very  little  difference  in  relation  to  the 
influence  of  these  two  systems  upon  our  mechanical  indus- 
tries, as  in  that  respect  they  both  are  injurious,  but  not 
quite  in  the  same  degree.  The  first,  on  account  of  the  low 
wages  paid  abroad,  unless  we  put  ours  down  to  the  same 
level,  would  effectually  prevent  competition  of  any  kind  in 
the  production  of  articles  of  the  same  class  manufactured  in 


10 


QUE  TARIFF* 


both  countries.  The  second,  in  its  application,  accomplishes 
a  similar  result  in  crippling  most  of  our  mechanical  indus- 
tries, the  wages  paid  our  workpeople,  meanwhile,  becoming 
very  nearly  the  same  as  that  paid  in  Europe.  The  explana- 
tion of  this  difference  in  wages  under  the  two  systems  is 
found  in  the  small  amount  of  duty  levied — for  experiment 
proves  that  with  us  the  comparatively  low,  not  the  high, 
tariff  on  high  priced  goods  produces  the  most  revenue,  as 
the  former  becomes  a  temptation  to  increase  importations 
of  common  articles,  which  in  turn  overwhelm  the  home 
productions.  In  addition,  the  second  theory  places  the  Na- 
\  tional  government  in  the  attitude  of  a  heartless  tax-gather- 
er, in  contrast  with  the  third,  which  places  it  as  the  friend 
of  the  masses — those  who  work  for  wages — in  so  legislating 
as  to  afford  them  an  opportunity  of  obtaining  by  means  of 
their  own  labor  a  self-respecting  and  comfortable  support. 

The  Summary.— The  results  of  the  two  systems,  "free 
trade"  and  for  "revenue  only"  or  "exclusively,"  as  found 
by  experiment  in  the  United  States,  thus  sum  up.  Free 
Trade:  no  revenue  from  imports;  the  National  government 
supported  by  funds  derived  from  internal  taxation ;  wages 
on  a  par  with  those  paid  in  Europe.  For  revenue  only  or 
exclusively :  an  abundance  of  revenue,  owing  to  a  low  tariff 
but  very  large  importations,  mechanical  industries  crippled 
if  not  ruined;  the  workpeople  without  remunerative  em- 
ployment, and  a  large  portion  of  the  population  bankrupt. 
Now  for  the  proof  of  this  statement.  First,  we  never  en- 
joyed but  once  the  pure  unalloyed  blessing  of  free  trade. 
That  was  during  the  six  years  (1783-1789)  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  U.  S.  constitution 
and  the  inauguration  of  George  Washington  as  President. 
Says  Bolles  in  his  History  of  the  Finances  of  the  United 
States  (II.  p.  487):  "From  1783  to  1789  the  trade  of  the 
thirteen  old  States  was  perfectly  free  to  the  whole  world. 
The  result  was  that  Great  Britain  filled  every  section  of  our 
country  with  her  manufactures  of  wool,  cotton,  linen, 
leather,  iron,  glass,  and  all  other  articles  used  here;  and  in 


THE  TWO  GOVEBNMENTS. 


11 


four  years  she  swept  from  the  country  every  dollar,  and 
every  piece  of  gold."  Again;  the  only  instance  when  we 
fairly  put  in  practice  the  theory  for  revenue  only,  was 
toward  the  close  of  the  gradually  lowering  process  of  the 
rates  of  duty  in  the  famous  Compromise  tariff  adopted  in 
Nullification  times,  1833,  and  which  reached  its  netheration 
in  a  horizontal  tariff  of  20  per  cent  upon  every  article  of  im- 
ported merchandise.  This  was  perhaps  the  most  injudi- 
cious tariff  ever  framed,  as  it  entirely  ignored  the  almost 
innumerable  differences  that  ever  exist  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction of  the  various  manufactured  articles ;  especially  is 
this  the  case  in  the  United  States.  It  is  in  proportion  equally 
absurd  to  apply  the  horizontal  principle  in  lowering  the 
rates  of  an  existing  tariff. 

The  Result.— Under  the  influence  of  this  unique  com- 
promise measure  (March  3,  1833),  began  the  gradual  with- 
drawal of  almost  the  entire  capital  invested  in  the  manu- 
facture of  articles  that  came  in  competition  with  those 
made  abroad.  The  result  was  that  nearly  the  whole  Nation 
stood  idle  and  went  in  debt  for  that  class  of  goods  which  the 
people  once  made  for  themselves ;  meanwhile  the  principle 
for  "  revenue  only  "  was  working  out  legitimate  effects.  The 
United  States  treasury  was  becoming  richer  and  richer — 
had  forty  million  dollars  surplus — and  the  people  them- 
selves poorer  and  poorer,  till  finally  the  majority  of  the 
latter  became  bankrupt,  the  business  of  the  country  cul- 
minating in  the  financial  crash  of  1837,  all  things  consid- 
ered, the  most  tremendous  in  our  history. 

The  Competitors.— In  the  case  of  free  trade  the  American 
manufacturer  enters  into  competition  with  the  foreigner, 
the  latter  having  an  immense  advantage  in  the  low  wages 
he  pays;  in  the  case  of  for  "  revenue  only  "  or  (l  exclusive- 
ly," he  and  his  workpeople  enter  into  a  sort  of  competition 
with  the  United  States  treasury,  with  the  latter  sure  to 
win  in  the  accumulation  of  money  drawn  from  import 
duties,  not  because  they  are  high,  but  because  they  are  low, 


12 


OUR  TARIFF. 


thus  filling  the  vaults  of  the  treasury  to  the  detriment  of 
the  labor  and  capital  of  the  people  themselves,  meanwhile 
making  the  latter  less  independent  of  foreign  manufacturers. 
Strictly  speaking,  both  these  theories  in  this  application  are 
in  direct  opposition  to  our  boasted  doctrine,  that  "  the  peo- 
ple constitute  the  State,"  and,  consistently,  the  government 
is  only  their  agent ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  the 
latter  in  this  mode  of  raising  revenue  sacrificing  the  indi- 
vidual interests  of  the  people. 

Facts  Worth  Remembering.— Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  funds  derived  from  the  tariff  are  appropriated  to  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  the  National  government,  and  in  that 
respect  every  citizen — the  employed  as  well  as  the  employer 
— is  benefited ;  and,  moreover,  this  money  is  obtained  from 
the  well-to-do  and  the  rich,  the  latter  being  able  and  willing 
to  purchase  the  high-priced  goods  that  pay  correspondingly 
high  duties.  It  is  therefore  a  gross  and  willful  misrepre- 
sentation to  say  that  the  tariff  is  only  for  the  advantage  of 
the  manufacturer,  when  the  benefit  derived  from  it  accrues 
to  all  the  people  of  every  class  and  condition.  It  has  been 
argued  by  certain  advocates  of  free  trade  and  for  revenue 
only  or  exclusively,  that  our  recent  overproduction  in 
manufactured  articles  could  be  disposed  of  to  other  nations 
if  we  adopted  free  trade  or  nearly  so,  and  thus  the  whole 
civilized  world  would  be  thrown  open  as  a  market  for  our 
surplus  of  mechanical  products.  At  first  sight  this  appears 
plausible,  and  indeed  might  be  applicable  until  we  had  dis- 
posed of  our  present  surplus.  But  what  of  the  future  ? 
Under  the  influence  of  a  system  that  did  not  equalize  the 
cost  of  production  by  means  of  import  duties,  we  could  not 
again  create  a  surplus  of  manufactured  articles,  as  our  in- 
dustries would  be  so  crippled  by  the  necessarily  low  rate  of 
wages.  Had  the  latter  during  the  last  twenty-five  years 
been  nearly  as  low  as  that  paid  in  our  great  free  trade  rival, 
England,  the  result  would  have  been,  instead  of  an  over- 
production of  manufactured  goods,  there  would  have  been  a 
deficiency.    The  money  surplus  that  the  United  States 


THE  TWO  G0VEBNMENT8. 


13 


treasury  now  holds — be  it  remembered — was  derived  on 
principles  entirely  different  from  those  on  which  the  forty 
millions  previously  alluded  to  were  obtained.  That  of  to- 
day is  the  outcome  of  the  unprecedented  industrial  success 
and  general  progress  of  the  country  for  the  last  twenty -six 
years,  and  which  enabled  those  who  chose  to  purchase 
foreign  high-priced  goods  to  pay  a  correspondingly  high 
duty,  which  found  its  way  into  the  common  treasury 
of  the  Nation,  while  the  income  from  internal  revenue  was 
also  in  proportion  to  the  vast  production  of  the  articles  thus 
taxed.  Meanwhile  the  laboring  class  had  plenty  of  work 
and  at  fair  wages,  and  capital  sufficient  to  carry  on  our 
different  industries  was  invested  and  at  a  profit. 


14 


OUR  TARIFF. 


XL 

Protection  for  the  Workpeople. 

The  political  economists  of  the  for-revenue-only  school 
continue  to  urge  there  is  no  necessity  for  a  tariff  to  protect 
" infant  manufactures,"  and  often  exclaim  that  long  ere 
this  they  ought  to  have  passed  the  period  of  infancy.  These 
gentlemen  seem  to  be  unaware  that  the  demand  for  a  tariff 
to-day  is  based  on  different  grounds  than  that  of  the  period 
to  which  reference  is  made.  In  addition  to  making  a  cer- 
tain class  of  property  pay  its  share  of  the  National  ex- 
penses, there  is  also  necessity  at  this  time  for  a  tariff  to 
equalize  the  cost  of  production,  and  thus  protect  our  work- 
people in  receiving  fair  and  remunerative  wages,  in  contra- 
distinction to  those  familiarly  known  as  starvation  in  Eu- 
rope. No  one  of  our  mechanical  industries  that  has  been 
developed  fully  needs  on  that  ground  a  tariff  for  its  pro- 
tection ;  but,  notwithstanding,  living  wages  must  be  paid 
or  we  cannot  obtain  the  workmen,  and  of  course,  some 
such  arrangement  is  necessary,  or  our  industries  that  com- 
pete with  those  of  Europe  must  either  cease  or  our  em- 
ployes receive  the  same  amount  for  their  labor  that  is  paid 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  At  the  present  time  the 
tariff  is  levied  in  behalf  of  our  workpeople,  and  seeks  to 
secure  them  a  comfortable  living  if  they  are  industrious, 
economical,  and,  more  than  all,  temperate  in  their  habits. 
This  policy  accomplishes  another  end  in  which  the  whole 
people  are  interested  and  benefited,  inasmuch  as  the  $800,- 
000,000  of  foreign  property  that  annually  comes  into  the 
country  in  the  form  of  merchandise  pays, by  means  of  a  tax 
or  tariff,  its  share  of  the  expenses  of  the  General  government. 

A  Change  of  Base.— -Thus  the  ground  is  shifted;  at  first 


PROTECTION  FOB  THE  WORKPEOPLE.  15 

the  primary  object  was  to  encourage  our  own  manufac- 
turers and  train  our  people  to  do  for  ourselves  that  which 
we  had  hitherto  employed  manufacturers  in  Europe  to  do 
for  us,  but  now  we  have  with  but  few  exceptions  acquired 
the  requisite  skill ;  but  another  element  crops  out — we  want 
to  stand  by  our  own  workpeople,  and  as  a  humane  and  pa- 
triotic measure  advance  their  interests,  and  not  subject  them 
to  the  disadvantage  of  having  their  wages  lowered  to  the 
standard  paid  in  Europe. 

Political  Equality.— The  Americans  in  a  political  sense 
are  on  an  equality  with  each  other,  the  vote  of  the  em- 
ploye being  of  itself  as  influential  as  that  of  the  employer. 
On  this  principle  we  repudiate  class  legislation.  Our  states- 
men are  bound  by  this  unwritten  law  to  so  legislate  as  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  greatest  number,  and,  also,  not 
to  infringe  upon  those  of  the  smallest.  We  h?we  seen  that 
about  three  fourths  of  our  adult  population  work  for  wages, 
and  in  giving  them  a  living  chance,  we  benefit  them  as  well 
as  the  capitalist  who  invests  his  money,  and  also  the  farmer 
who  owns  his  own  farm  and  who  raises  the  food  that  both 
classes  require.  This  policy  recognizes  the  principle  that 
"the  people  constitute  the  State,"  which  notable  fact  our 
friends  of  the  for-revenue-only  school  seem  to  overlook 
when  they  introduce  measures  that  would,  lower  the  wages 
of  much  the  larger  class,  and  also  indirectly  injure  the  in- 
terests of  the  other. 

The  Effect  of  Common  Schools.— The  most  striking  con- 
trast between  the  advantages  the  American  workmen  have, 
when  compared,  for  instance,  with  those  of  the  British  Isles, 
is  in  the  former's  surroundings  and  comforts,  and  in  his 
family,  as  all  his  children  are  freely  taught  in  the  public 
schools.  These  in  the  North  have  been  in  existence  and 
patronized  for  generations,  and  thus  the  native  born  adults 
of  that  section,  under  this  influence,  appreciate  an  educa- 
tion that  prepares  them  to  perform  their  duties  as  citizens. 
Seldom,  perhaps  never,  do  we  find  persons  thus  educated 


16 


OUR  TARIFF. 


willingly  become  paupers,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  England 
If  we  wish,  therefore,  to  induce  a  willingness  on  the  part  of 
our  workpeople  to  become  such,  we  must  abolish  our  public 
schools  and  bring  wages  to  the  requisite  low  point. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  owing  to  this  same  influence,  our 
natives,  those  whose  parents,  and  frequently  grandparents, 
have  been  native  Americans,  differ  in  their  characterestics 
from  those  of  other  antecedents.  They  may  be  poor,  but 
there  is  no  cringing  in  their  natures ;  they  have  self-respect, 
though  they  may  not  be  as  well  off  as  their  neighbors. 
Observe  a  group  of  children  of  such  parentage  in  our  coun- 
try schools,  and  while  there  are  many  discrepancies  in  point 
of  wealth  between  their  parents,  yet  they  meet  on  an  equal- 
ity, and  there  is  scarcely  any,  if  at  all,  a  perceptible  feeling 
of  caste  among  them.  The  farmers  nearly  all  own  their 
farms  and  cultivate  them  by  their  own  labor,  and  are  the 
more  respected  because  they  are  industrions  and  temperate. 

An  Englishman's  Yiew.— Owing  to  these  schools  our  work- 
people are  more  than  usually  intelligent,  when  compared 
with  the  workpeople  of  Europe.  Observant  foreigners  have 
commented  on  this  characteristic  of  the  native  born  Ameri- 
can mechanic.  Says  an  English  writer  and  manufacturer, 
the  late  Mr.  Alfred  Field,  of  Birmingham,  England,  1 4  the 
greater  intelligence,  versatility,  and  adaptiveness  of  the 
American  workmen,  their  freedom  from  rules  of  trade, 
their  readiness,  not  merely  to  adapt  but  profusely  suggest 
new  ideas,  patterns,  and  improvements,  enables  them  to 
supplant  the  products  of  British  manufacture."  Again,  u  It 
is  this  superiority  of  the  American  workingmen  that  causes 
their  productions  to  supersede  ours.  .  .  .  That  just  in  pro- 
portion as  an  article  offers  an  opportunity  by  altering  its 
shape,  lightening  it,  making  it  look  stylish,  or  introducing 
machinery  into  some  of  the  processes  of  its  manufacture,  or 
by  some  direct  action  leaving  out  unnecessary  work,  in 
short  by  putting  brains  into  it,  just  in  this  proportion  the 
American  article  supersedes  the  English."  The  reason  that 
American  workmen  " put  brains  into  their  work"  is  be- 


PROTECTION  FOR  THE  WORKPEOPLE.  17 


cause  they  are  more  self-respecting  and  independent,  better 
educated,  and  are  taught  to  think  for  themselves.  Their 
only  prejudices  are  in  favor  of  the  usefulness  of  the  object 
in  hand ;  they  exercise  their  reason  as  well  as  their  hands, 
hence  they  become  skillful  workmen,  and  are  more  apt  to 
notice  improvements,  whi?e  suggestions  with  them  soon 
become  subjects  of  experiment,  and,  if  successful,  a  perma- 
nent advantage.  This  superior  excellence  is  due  to  their 
having  been  taught  in  our  public  schools;  while  the  latter 
are  striving  more  and  more  to  give  elementary  instruction 
in  mechanics,  so  that  the  children,  in  addition  to  their  ordi- 
nary book  learning,  may  have  as  far  as  possible  trained 
hands  and  eyes,  and  thus  be  better  able  to  fill  their  sphere 
in  life,  whether  they  work  in  factories  or  otherwise.  This 
requiring  a  certain  amount  of  education  among  those  who 
work  in  factories  has  the  tendency  to  make  that  class  of 
labor  more  respectable  than  it  is  even  at  present. 

Interest  and  Duty.— It  is  under  all  circumstances  for  the 
interest  as  well  as  the  duty  of  the  man  who  works  for  a  liv- 
ing to  vote  intelligently  and  in  such  manner  as  to  secure  as 
fair  wages  as  he  can;  yet  it  is  strange  that  multitudes  of  the 
workingmen  of  the  United  States  give  their  suffrage  for  that 
political  organization  which  by  its  crude  legislation  has 
been — of  course  not  designedly — an  obstacle,  to-day  as  well 
as  previous  to  the  civil  war,  to  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  and  our  mechanical  industries.  The 
latter's  great  progress  was  brought  about  before  that  period 
by  the  energy  of  the  people  themselves  in  spite  of  this  mis- 
guided interference ;  the  difficulty  seems  to  have  been  the 
lack  of  comprehensive  views  of  statesmanship  on  the  part 
of  the  leaders  of  that  day. 
2 


I 


18 


OUR  TARIFF* 


ni. 

Advantages  to  be  Transferred. 

With  a  free  and  open  competition  in  the  markets  of  their 
own  land  and  in  those  of  the  outside  world,  the  American 
manufacturer  need  not  fear,  if  the  cost  of  production  could 
be  equalized.  It  is  often  urged  by  the  opponents  of  a  tariff 
thus  adjusted  that  our  successful  inventions  of  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  should  enable  us  to  have  free  trade  or  nearly 
so,  and  these  gentlemen  even  argue  that  our  more  intelli- 
gent workmen  can  thus  be  able  to  compete  with  the  low 
wages  paid  in  Europe.  What  advantage  can  the  American 
people  gain  by  this?  Let  us  look  at  what  this  statement 
means  when  stripped  of  its  plausible  humanitarian  theory. 
Here  it  is  assumed  that  free  trade  would  confer  upon  the 
American  people  a  vast  benefit.  We  may  in  due  deference 
ask  in  what  respect?  Is  it  because  the  $800,000,000  worth  of 
merchandise,  on  an  average,  annually  imported  is  to  come 
into  the  country  without  paying  duty  or  tax,  and  the  rev- 
enue derived  from  this  source  be  thus  sacrificed,  while  the 
funds  for  the  current  expenses  of  the  National  government 
must  be  otherwise  provided?  Why  shall  not  this  class  of 
mercantile  property  pay  tax  and  aid  in  supporting  the 
government  as  well  as  real  estate?  Meanwhile,  instead  of 
aiding  to  supply  their  own  wants,  our  skilled  mechanics  and 
workpeople  generally  are  to  stand  idle  or  work  for  wages 
equally  low  as  those  paid  in  Europe.  And  all  this  in  order 
to  put  in  practice  the  theory  of  certain  professors  of  political 
economy  and  self-constituted  experts. 

It  is  acknowledged  that  our  inventions  of  machinery  or 
improvements  upon  that  which  is  foreign,  enables  us  to  ac- 
complish by  its  means  much  more  than  could  be  done  by 


ADVANTAGES  TO  BE  TRANSFEBBED.  19 


hand  labor.  Here  is  an  advantage  legitimately  due  to  our 
own  efforts,  but  our  "  exclusively  "or  "  for  revenue  only  " 
friends  demand  that  we  virtually  surrender  this  advantage 
—and  to  whom  would  they  have  us  transfer  it?  Would  it 
not  be  to  the  foreign  manufacturer?  Certainly  not  to  those 
whom  he  employs.  Statistics,  for  illustration,  show  that  not- 
withstanding the  enormous  increase  of  wealth  in  England 
for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  the  wages  of  her  work- 
people have  not  by  any  means  increased  in  the  same  ratio. 

The  Rational  Policy.— How  much  more  rational  is  the 
policy  that  would  transfer  a  certain  portion  of  European 
skilled  workmen  to  our  own  country,  rather  than  to  hand 
over  the  advantages  of  manufacturing  to  the  foreign  capi- 
talist, as  would  be  tho  result  of  our  adopting  the  policy  of 
low  wages.  This  transferrence  of  skilled  workmen  to  our 
shores  is  one  of  the  good  effects  of  the  tax  or  tariff  on  prop- 
erty in  the  form  of  foreign  made  articles,  that  we  ourselves 
could  produce.  Foreign  manufacturers  on  this  account 
often  transfer  their  machinery  and  appliances  to  the  United 
States,  and  make  on  our  own  soil  the  articles  we  need  and 
would  otherwise  have  to  purchase  abroad.  They  bring  with 
them  numbers  of  skilled  workmen,  who  remain  as  citizens 
and  teach  our  native  born  who  may  be  employed  in  such 
factories — the  latter  also  becoming  skilled  in  the  art.  In 
three  respects  these  advantages  accrue  to  our  own  people; 
the  first ,  in  their  obtaining  employment  in  the  mills  thus 
established ;  second,  to  furnish  these  workpeople  with  bread 
and  meat,  becomes  the  province  of  the  western  farmer, 
while  the  produce  merchant  and  the  market  gardener  in 
the  vicinity  supply  them  with  other  household  provis- 
ions; and  third,  the  articles  thus  made  are  equally  good 
and  under  the  circumstances  equally  cheap.  It  is  evident 
that  the  benefit  that  accrues  to  the  public  of  having  these 
essential  articles  and  of  common  use  made  on  our  own  soil, 
and  by  our  own  workpeople,  far  outweighs  in  importance 
the  advantage  that  would  even  accrue  to  the  Nation  at  large 
on  the  supposition,  that  these  articles  were  made  abroad  and 


20 


OUR  TARIFF. 


paid  into  the  United  States  treasury  the  usual  import  duty. 
This  statement,  as  a  general  rule,  does  not  apply  in  the  case  of 
high-priced  goods,  that  have  required  in  their  production 
great  skill  and  experience,  for  in  these  two  requisites  in  such 
manufacturing  we  are  as  yet  lacking.  Such  classes  of  mer- 
chandise are  purchased  by  the  comparatively  rich  few ;  the 
tariff  on  such  articles  being  judiciously  high,  the  duty  de- 
rived from  them  furnishes  a  great  proportion  of  the  revenue 
for  the  support  of  the  National  government. 

The  Transfers.— Of  the  many  instances  that  might  be 
noticed  in  which  manufacturing  establishments  have  been 
in  part  transferred  from  Europe  to  this  country,  we  will 
mention  only  three,  as  they  happen  to  be  in  the  same  line- 
that  of  flax  thread  and  that  of  cotton  thread,  the  former 
represented  by  Barbour  Brothers,  and  the  latter  by  two 
firms,  Clark  &  Co.  and  Kerr  &  Co.,  the  former  from 
Ireland,  the  latter  two  from  Scotland;  the  first  two  are 
located  at  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  and  the  last  at  East  New- 
ark in  the  same  State.  These  firms  found  it  to  their  advan- 
tage to  transfer  their  spinning  and  reeling  machinery  to  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  also  a  portion  of  their  skilled  work- 
men, and  to  make  on  our  own  soil  a  portion  of  the  thread 
which  they  would  hereafter  supply  to  the  American  peo- 
ple. These  firms  employ  altogether  in  their  mills  more 
than  2,000  persons,  not  counting  those  who  are  employed 
incidentally.  They  pay  their  employes  living  wages,  so 
that  what  they  would  have  to  pay  in  the  form  of  tariff, 
before  entering  the  American  market,  on  their  thread,  if 
made  abroad  and  imported,  goes  to  those  whom  they  em- 
ploy here— our  own  working  people— and  thus  the  cost  of 
thread  production  is  equalized  in  the  United  States  and  in 
Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Ira  C.  Davis,  superintendent  of  the  mills  belonging 
to  the  last  of  these  firms,  Kerr  &  Co.,  writes:  "  We  import 
the  yarn  from  our  Paisley  (Scotland)  mills,  and  the  only 
process  of  manufacture  we  carry  on  in  the  United  States  is 
the  winding  of  the  thread  on  the  200  yards  spools."  "  If  the 


ADVANTAGES  TO  BE  TBANSFEBBED.  21 


tariff  is  not  taken  off,  we  may,  perhaps,  spin  and  twist  in 
this  country— that  is,  manufacture  our  thread  in  all  the 
processes  from  the  raw  Sea-Island  cotton."  Again:  "Of 
course  if  200  yards  spool  cotton  could  be  imported  into  the 
United  States  free,  we  could  not  manufacture  here,  unless 
we  had  factories,  machinery,  and  wages  at  the  same  cost  as 
in  Paisley.  We  are  paying,  as  nearly  as  possible  double 
the  wages  here  that  we  pay  in  Paisley." 


22 


OUR  TARIFF. 


TV. 

England  Wishes  Free  Trade. 

England  has  one  reason  for  adopting  free  trade  with  other 
countries  that  does  not  apply  to  the  United  States,  and  that 
is  in  relation  to  her  supplies  of  food  for  her  workpeople. 
Yet,  in  her  own  market,  her  own  food  producers,  if  they  had 
only  land  enough,  could  compete  with  the  outside  world, 
because  of  the  low  wages  paid  farm  laborers.  Her  land  for 
cultivation  is  very  limited  in  extent ;  so  much  of  it  being 
taken  up  in  hunting  grounds  and  parks  around  the  castles 
or  homes  of  the  nobility.  Under  this  system  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  working  people  must  engage  in  mechanical  in- 
dustries. It  is  different  in  the  United  States;  their  terri- 
tory being  so  much  more  extensive,  a  greater  number  in 
proportion  are  engaged  in  agriculture  than  in  any  other  sin- 
gle pursuit,  and  what  is  still  more  in  contrast,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  nineteen-twentieths  of  American  farmers  own 
the  land  they  cultivate.  The  Homestead  law  was  designed, 
among  other  excellent  features,  to  prevent  vast  accumula- 
tions of  land  in  the  hands  of  one  person  or  family  as  it  is  in 
England ;  we  have  no  law  of  primogeniture,  nor  one  prevent- 
ing the  creditor  from  levying  on  the  land  for  the  liquida- 
tion of  a  debt.  With  us  great  landed  estates  do  not  remain 
in  the  same  family  more  than  one  or  two  generations — wit- 
ness the  entire  breaking  up  into  moderate  sized  farms  of  the 
great  Straughn  plantation  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  at  one 
time  said  to  have  been  the  largest  in  the  Union. 


The  Comparison.— -In  the  United  States— not  including 
Alaska— there  are  (1887)  about  twenty  inhabitants  to  the 


ENGLAND  WISHES  FBEE  TBADE.  23 


square  mile,  while  to  the  same  amount  of  surface  in  Great 
Britian  there  are  about  287— in  England  proper  476.  In  con- 
sequence the  land  cultivated  in  the  United  Kingdom  cannot 
by  any  means  afford  sufficient  food  for  the  inhabitants,  and 
it  is  vastly  important  for  the  people  at  large  to  have  food 
from  outside  sources  and  as  cheaply  as  possible.  The  latter, 
as  raw  material,  is  as  essential  to  sustain  the  working  power 
among  her  employes  as  coal  is  to  melt  iron  ore  or  to  gen- 
erate the  steam  which  drives  the  machinery  in  her  facto- 
ries. The  low  wages  paid  in  England  has  its  source  in  the 
surplus  of  work  people  incident  to  an  overcrowded  popula- 
tion, and  not  to  free  trade,  as  is  sometimes  assumed;  this 
state  of  things  is  taken  advantage  of  by  the  employers  in 
order  to  lower  the  price  of  labor,  thus  enabling  the  former 
to  compete  with  manufacturers  elsewhere  in  the  markets  of 
the  world.  This  feature  of  low  wages  the  American  law- 
givers, in  defence  of  their  own  workpeople,  must  contend 
against.  The  rapid  and  increasing  commercial  intercourse 
between  the  United  States  and  the  countries  of  Europe  has 
a  decided  tendency  to  bring  wages  to  the  same  level  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  by  a  law  as  stringent  as  that  by 
which  water  seeks  its  level.  We  see  this  result  to-day  in 
the  uniform  low  wages  paid  workpeople  throughout  the 
countries  of  Europe,  and  because  they  lie  near  each  other. 
It  will  only  require  time  and  the  embodiment  in  law  of  the 
usual  theories  pertaining  to  the  trade  held  by  our  free  trade 
friends  to  equalize,  or  nearly  so,  the  wages  paid  in  the 
United  States  with  those  paid  on  the  other  side  of  the  At- 
lantic. 

Kaw  Material  Sometimes  Taxed.— -England  raises  only  a 
very  small  portion  of  the  food  her  people  require,  and  she 
treats  grain  as  raw  material  and  admits  it  free  of  duty. 
Her  own  production  of  food  is  so  limited,  she  is  compelled 
to  supply  the  deficiency  from  abroad,  and  thus  ignore  the 
claims  of  her  own  farmers  for  the  protection  due  their  agri- 
cultural interests.  The  case  of  England  in  respect  to  the 
provisions  she  herself  can  produce  from  her  own  soil,  and 


24 


OUR  TARIFF. 


that  of  the  United  States  in  relation  to  two  important  items 
of  raw  material — wool  and  iron  ores — cannot  be  adduced  as 
parallel,  as  the  latter  have  ample  means  for  supplying  both 
these  from  their  own  resources.  Our  farmers  have  facilities 
for  producing  an  abundance  of  wool,  while  our  mountains 
and  their  foot  hills  abound  in  iron  ores.  There  may  be 
grades  of  wool  that  we  cannot  raise,  and  there  may  be  for- 
eign ores  that  produce  an  iron  having  unique  and  valuable 
properties.  If  there  is  a  class  of  wool  that  we  cannot  raise 
at  all,  as  a  general  principle  let  it  come  in  free  or  at  a  nom- 
inal rate,  and  we  can  apply  the  same  rule  to  the  ores — but 
we  are  not  aware  that  this  is  the  case  absolutely,  in  either 
instance.  But  by  all  means,  let  the  principle  be  maintained, 
that  no  raw  material  which  we  ourselves  can  supply  shall 
be  made  less  valuable  by  adverse  legislation  in  admitting  a 
similar  foreign  article  as  free,  or  taxed  so  low,  as  to  interfere 
with  the  home  production. 

Iron  ores  come  from  other  countries,  especially  from  cer- 
tain portions  of  Europe,  and  can  be  laid  down  at  our  wharves 
very  cheaply,  because  of  the  low  wages  paid  for  mining  and 
placing  them  on  board  the  ship  in  which  they  are  trans- 
ported in  ballast,  and  at  a  mere  nominal  f  reight  rate.  Our 
iron  ores  are  found  in  the  interior,  and  to  freight  them  to 
furnaces  located  at  the  seaboard  would  be  expensive,  while 
the  latter  could  receive  ore  from  abroad  at  a  much  cheaper 
rate.  This  would  give  the  iron-makers  thus  situated  a  de- 
cided advantage  over  their  brethern  in  the  interior.  The 
only  means  by  which  to  remove  this  inequality  is  to  impose 
a  tariff  upon  foreign  ores,  so  as  to  equalize  in  all  our  furnaces 
the  cost  of  making  iron. 

Difference  in  Appreciation.— The  lack  of  sympathy  for 
one  another  among  the  different  classes  of  the  English  peo- 
ple strikes  the  observer  with  pain.  Labor  and  trade  as  oc- 
cupations are  not  respected  in  England  as  they  are  in  the 
United  States.  In  the  former  exists  a  sort  of  Anglicised  caste 
feeling — orignating  among  the  aristocracy  with  royalty  at  its 
head— which  has  little  regard  for  the  welfare  of  those  who 


ENGLAND  WISHES  FREE  TRADE. 


25 


work  for  wages.  This  feeling  the  middle  class  of  English- 
men, as  they  are  termed,  promoted  by  what  Hamerton  in 
his  Intellectual  Life  (page  424)  calls  "The  pathetic  spirit  of 
deference  and  submission  to  superiors,  which  characterizes 
the  English  people.  The  wonder  is  that  the  great  active  ma- 
jority of  the  nation,  the  men  who  by  their  industry  and  in- 
telligence have  made  England  what  she  is,  should  ever  have 
been  willing  to  submit  to  so  insolent  a  rule  as  the  rule  of 
caste,  which,  instead  of  honoring  industry,  honored  idleness 
and  attached  a  stigma  to  the  most  useful  and  important 
trades."  This  influence  of  caste  descends  to  ranks  below 
the  aristocracy,  and  the  one  higher  despises  the  next  lower; 
hence  there  is  no,  or  at  best  but  little,  sympathy  between 
the  employer  and  the  employed.  On  the  other  hand  the 
American  manufacturer  looks  upon  those  whom  he  employs 
as  his  equals  in  a  political  sense,  and  he  has  for  them  a  feel- 
ing of  which  his  English  brother  is  not  conscious,  as  the  lat- 
ter is  imbued  with  this  '  '  caste"  sentiment,  so  unknown  to 
the  native  American.  This  unfortunate  feeling  of  "  caste" 
is  likewise  cherished  in  England  because  of  the  union  of  the 
Church  and  State,  as  between  Dissenters  and  Churchmen, 
while  such  feeling  has  no  existence  among  the  American 
people,  who  in  their  church  relations  are  on  a  perfect  equal- 
ity, each  denomination  voluntarily  supporting  its  own  or- 
ganization, and  not  in  addition  unjustly  ta^ed  to  support  a 
State  church.  The  recognition,  also,  of  political  equality  is 
one  of  the  strongest  elements  in  influencing  the  American 
employers  to  treat  kindly  those  whom  they  employ. 

The  Irishman's  Revenge.— Justin  MacCarthy,  in  his  sketch 
of  the  troubles  of  Ireland,  shows  in  what  manner  the  man- 
ufacturing interests  and  other  industries  in  that  island 
were  ruined.  English  policy  did  it,  by  depressing  them  in 
pretty  much  the  same  way  that  the  adoption  of  free  trade 
or  for  revenue  only  would  do  here,  by  lowering  the  profits 
to  such  an  extent  that  capitalists  would  be  forced  to  with- 
draw their  money  and  live  upon  it,  rather  than  lose  it  by 
engaging  in  manufacturing.   A  similar  operation  could  not 


26 


OUR  TARIFF. 


affect  agricultural  products  in  the  United  States  as  it  did  in 
Ireland,  because  in  the  former  the  farmers  nearly  all  own 
the  land  they  cultivate,  though  in  respect  to  our  mechani- 
cal industries  the  result,  in  time,  would  be  virtually  the 
same.  Yet,  astonishing  to  say,  Irishmen— American  natu- 
ralized citizens — with  this  example  before  them  of  the 
ruined  industries  of  their  native  island  or  that  of  their 
fathers,  have  hitherto  voted  year  after  year  for  those  polit- 
ical leaders,  who,  though  professing  to  be  the  special 
friends  of  the  laboring  men,  have  never  done  otherwise, 
when  they  had  the  opportunity,  than  to  pass  laws  whose 
influence  was  to  injure,  rather  than  benefit,  the  industries 
of  the  Union.  If  these  leaders  and  theorists  are  not  mis- 
guided, but  are  truly  in  favor  of  promoting  the  interests  of 
the  skilled  mechanic  and  of  those  who  make  their  living 
by  the  simpler  forms  of  manual  labor,  how  can  they  consist- 
ently advocate  principles  that  lead  to  lowering  the  wages 
of  that  class  of  workmen  to  a  level  with  that  paid  for  simi- 
lar service  in  England,  France,  Belgium,  and  other  coun- 
tries in  Europe  ? 

Misrule  and  Totes.— Does  the  Irishman  really  reflect  on 
the  condition  of  his  native  Isle,  whose  misfortunes  he  at- 
tributes to  English  misrule  ?  Does  he  remember  that  his- 
tory tells  in  what  manner  the  industries  of  Ireland  were 
first  crippled  and  then  ruined  by  English  legislation  ?  If 
he  really  wished  to  avenge  Ireland's  wrongs,  his  most  effect- 
ive means  would  be  through  the  medium  of  the  United 
States,  the  chief  rival  of  England  in  commerce  and  in  man- 
ufacturing ;  that  is  to  say,  he  would  vote  to  sustain  and 
promote  our  own  mechanical  industries  in  opposition  to 
those  of  England,  while  at  the  same  time  keeping  up  the 
wages  of  his  countrymen,  who  work  for  hire,  and  have  cast 
in  their  lot  with  us.  But  if  he  votes  as  he  usually  does,  he 
thus  far  aids  his  old  enemy,  inasmuch  as  the  English  man- 
ufacturer has  the  advantage  over  the  American  in  the  low 
wages  he  pays  his  operatives,  and  the  only  remedy  for  the 
latter  is,  either  to  have  a  tariff  sufficiently  high  to  equalize 


ENGLAND  WISHES  FREE  TRADE.  27 


the  cost  of  production  or  put  down  the  wages  of  his  own 
workpeople  to  a  level  with  that  paid  abroad.  Does  the 
Irishman  still  wish  to  aid  his  old  enemy,  as  he  terms  the 
English  landlord  and  manufacturer,  by  voting  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  put  our  industries  in  the  latter's  power  ? 


28 


OUR  TARIFF. 


V. 

The  Two  Kinds  of  Capital. 

In  carrying  on  manufacturing  enterprises,  especially  on  a 
large  scale,  two  classes  of  capital  are  brought  into  requisi- 
tion—  one  much  concentrated,  the  other  much  diffused. 
The. first  is  the  money  invested,  which  furnishes  the  build- 
ings, the  machinery  and  the  raw  material  to  be  operated 
upon,  and  the  wages  paid  those  who  perform  the  labor ;  the 
second  is  the  brain,  the  skill  and  the  muscle  of  those  who 
do  the  manual  or  mechanical  part  of  the  work.  The  em- 
ployers own  the  one  class  of  capital  and  those  employed 
own  the  other.  The  one  class  is  as  truly  property  as  the 
other,  and  each  possessor  has  an  absolute  right  to  the  con- 
trol of  his  own.  According  to  the  economy  of  civilized 
society,  these  two  classes  of  property  owners,  are  mutually 
dependent  upon  each  other  in  making  their  respective  capi- 
tal available  in  producing  incomes,  which  are  in  reality  of 
the  same  nature,  though  custom  calls  them  by  different 
names— the  one  dividends;  the  other  wages.  There  is  no 
less  merit  in  acquiring  one  class  of  this  property  than  of 
the  other— both  in  their  acquisition  demanded  labor  of  body 
and  mind. 

Capital ;  Whence  Derived. — The  money  capital  is  the  re- 
sult of  labor  performed  by  some  one,  somewhere  and  at 
sometime;  it  may  have  been  by  an  ancestor  in  a  former 
generation,  or  it  may  have  been  by  the  individual  himself, 
be  that  as  it  may,  he  has  an  absolute  right  to  its  use  and 
the  endowments  derived  therefrom;  the  workingman's  cap- 
ital has  also  been  acquired  by  hard  labor,  but  by  the  owner 
himself,  because  it  is  of  a  nature  that  cannot  be  derived 


THE  TWO  KINDS  OF  CAPITAL. 


29 


from  an  ancestor  or  a  friend.  God  has  given  him  brain 
and  strength  of  muscle,  while  his  own  merit  consists  in  his 
cultivating  them  both  by  correct  moral  habits  and  labor, 
making  his  capital  proportionately  available  and  valuable. 
In  one  respect  he  stands  upon  higher  ground  than  he  who 
merely  inherits  wealth,  as  he  has  acquired  his  capital  by 
his  own  exertions.  As  one  class  of  capital— money— can  ac- 
cumulate from  time  to  time,  so  can  skill  by  a  different  pro- 
cess acquire  force  from  one  generation  to  another,  as  each 
succeeding  one  avails  itself  of  the  experience  and  teaching 
of  the  past.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  mechanical 
skill,  especially  among  American  workmen,  increases  so 
rapidly  that  what  seems  remarkable  for  its  proficiency  in 
one  generation  is  often  deemed  crude  and  almost  useless  in 
the  next.  There  is  no  more  interesting  subject  for  our 
statesmen  or  political  economists  to  investigate  than  this 
progress  of  the  arts  of  manufacturing,  as  it  pertains  not 
only  to  our  own  invention,  but  also  to  the  acquisition  of 
skill  by  our  individual  workmen. 

The  Two  Investments.— The  parallel  may  be  drawn  still 
further.  If  the  money— one  class  of  capital— is  not  invested 
in  some  way  the  owner  cannot  derive  from  it  a  dividend ; 
and  if  the  other's  capital — his  skill,  his  brain  and  his  muscle 
— is  not  invested;  that  is,  if  he  does  not  work,  he  will  re- 
ceive no  wages.  The  former  has  this  advantage,  that  if  he 
does  not  invest  his  money  in  business,  he  can  live  upon  it ; 
but  the  latter  can  invest  his  capital  only  by  individual  ex- 
ertion or  working ;  he  cannot  put  it  out  at  interest  or  live 
upon  it  alone.  It  thus  follows  that  the  opportunity  afforded 
the  working  people  for  employment  is  far  more  important 
to  them  than  to  any  other  portion  of  the  community.  The 
proprietors  of  manufacturing  establishments,  in  addition  to 
their  capital,  give  the  aid  either  of  their  own  skill  and  ex- 
perience or  pay  for  that  of  others,  in  order  to  develop  their 
money  investment.  In  proportion — if  it  can  be  thus  rated 
— to  the  money  value  of  the  workmen's  capital,  their  skill 
and  muscle  invested  by  them,  is  not  the  percentage  of 


30 


OUR  TARIFF. 


their  dividends  equally  large  if  not  larger  ?  In  the  cost  of 
manufactured  goods  in  the  United  States,  85  to  90  per 
cent  is  due  to  the  high  'price  of  the  labor  bestowed  upon 
them,  while  in  Europe  owing  to  the  low  rate  of  wages — 
an  average  of  about  one  third  of  what  the  American  capi- 
talist pays— the  labor  cost  of  the  manufactured  article  is 
only  about  25  or  30  per  cent. 

Distribution  of  Wealth. — In  connection  with  the  feature 
of  the  subject  just  mentioned,  the  following  summary  may 
be  of  interest.  According  to  statistics  adduced,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  the  wealth  of  the  United  States  is  $50,000,000,000, 
while  that  of  Great  Britain  is  $40,000,000,000.  This  would 
average  to  each  inhabitant  of  the  United  States  (1884)  about 
$875,  and  to  each  one  of  Great  Britain  about  $1150.  The 
same  authority  states  that  of  the  "  wealth  of  the  United 
States  72  parts  go  to  labor,  23  to  capital  and  5  to  govern- 
ment, while  in  Great  Britain  41  parts  go  to  labor,  36  to 
capital  and  23  to  government."  There  must  be  a  reason  for 
the  difference  in  this  distribution  of  national  wealth ;  is  it 
not  because  of  the  higher  wages  paid  in  the  United  States 
that  out  of  every  $100  of  this  wealth  72  accrue  to  labor, 
more  than  three  times  as  much  (23)  as  accrue  to  capital, 
while  because  of  comparatively  low  salaries  of  officials  only 
5  per  cent  goes  to  the  government.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
Great  Britain,  because  of  low  wages,  41  parts  go  to  labor;  36 
to  capital,  because  taking  advantage  of  an  overcrowded 
population  it  demands  and  enforces  low  wages,  while  23 
parts  go  to  government  in  order  to  sustain  the  dignity  of 
royalty  and  the  corresponding  heavy  expenses. 

Standing  Armies.— Another  feature  is  worthy  of  mention. 
In  Europe  the  combined  standing  armies  of  all  the  States 
under  the  names  of  empires,  kingdoms,  or  republics,  num- 
ber about  4,000,000  men.  These  armies  earn  nothing,  and 
are  supported  by  the  unremitting  toil  of  the  laboring  mil- 
lions, and  in  addition  about  10,000,000,  are  known  as  a  re- 
serve force,  the  latter,  though  now  in  civil  life,  having 


THE  TWO  KINDS  OF  CAPITAL. 


31 


served  a  number  of  years  in  the  regular  army  to  the  detri- 
ment of  their  industrial  habits.  The  United  States  has  an 
army  of  nominally  25,000  men,  who  ordinarily  are  sup- 
ported by  funds  derived  from  import  duties.  The  armies 
of  Europe  are  used  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power  be- 
tween the  different  nations  and  to  watch  each  other,  and 
keep  a  few  crowned  heads  on  their  thrones,  and  every 
branch  of  their  families  in  stations  of  luxury  and  idleness. 
The  army  of  the  United  States  is  scattered  all  over  the 
country  in  little  groups,  either  doing  garrison  duty  on  our 
seaboard,  or  on  the  frontiers  watching  Indians  and  keeping 
them  in  order. 

The  Farmer's  Grievances.— The  advocates  of  the  "  exclu- 
sively or  for  revenue  only"  theory,  adduce  another  instance 
of  grievance.  They  tell  the  farmer,  in  whom  they  profess 
to  have  an  unusual  interest,  that  in  consequence  of  the 
tariff  on  iron,  for  illustration,  he  is  compelled  to  pay  a 
much  higher  price  for  his  plough-shares,  hoes  and  his  other 
iron  utensils.  The  absurd  statement  was  reported  to  have 
been  made  on  the  floor  of  Congress  by  an  ardent  free 
trader,  that  in  consequence  of  the  tariff,  the  farmer  paid 
170  per  cent  on  the  iron  he  used.  The  author— a  promi- 
nent Congressman— of  4 4  Free  Land  and  Free  Trade,"  also 
tells  the  farmer  that  he  "  pays  40  per  cent  average  advance 
price  out  of  his  farm  products  for  the  goods  (he  buys)  which 
come  from  abroad."  This  author  failed  to  intimate  to  the 
disciple  of  Cincinnatus  that  his  farm  products  are  enhanced 
one  hundred  fold  or  more  in  value  because  he  has  near  him 
a  large  population  who  are  engaged  in  mechanical  indus- 
tries, and  whose  households  he  supplies  with  their  necessary 
provisions.  The  intelligent  farmer  who  reads  and  studies 
on  this  subject  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  increased  value 
of  the  products  of  his  farm  ought  to  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion, since  they  would  be  for  the  greater  portion  almost 
valueless  if  the  capitalists  in  his  vicinity,  who  are  engaged 
in  manufacturing,  were  to  cease  or  greatly  curtail  their 
operations  and  dispense  with  the  labor  of  large  numbers  of 


32 


OUR  TARIFF. 


their  working  people,  whom  the  former  supplies  with  pro- 
visions. This  consideration  far  overbalances  the  enhanced 
price — even  if  the  statements  cited  above  were  true — of  the 
farmer's  iron  utensils,  etc.,  since  their  cost  is  not  one  five 
hundredth  part  of  the  expense  in  carrying  on  a  farm. 

Two  Illustrations. — The  application  of  the  latter  theory- 
is  shown  in  the  case  of  the  great  Cambria  Iron  Works  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  are  employed  thousands  of  workmen, 
whose  families  have  to  be  supported.  It  is  a  well  ascer- 
tained fact  that  the  existence  of  these  works,  has  en- 
hanced the  value  of  the  farms  from  50  to  100  per  cent 
per  acre,  according  to  location,  for  a  radius  of  ten  miles  or 
more  around.  The  result  is  similar  upon  the  value  of  farms 
in  the  vicinity  of  manufacturing  villages  everywhere.  The 
latter  class  of  small  farms  or  gardens  produces  a  greater 
amount  of  that  kind  of  food  which  perishes  more  easily, 
such  as  the  varieties  of  garden  products,  while  a  similar  in- 
fluence extends  to  the  distant  prairies  of  the  Great  West, 
where  the  farmers  furnish  food  supplies  of  wheat,  corn, 
cattle,  etc.  Though  the  western  farmer  incurs  larger  ex- 
penses in  reaching  a  market,  this  disadvantage  is  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  his  greater  facilitiies  in  producing, 
comparatively,  much  larger  crops,  which  from  their  nature 
are  less  perishable  and  bear  transportation  for  a  greater 
distance. 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  principle  involved  is  afforded 
by  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  though  in  the  fertility  of  native 
soil  it  is  not  pre-eminent,  yet  from  mere  location,  between 
the  two  great  cities  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  also  having 
cities  on  her  own  territory,  her  lands  are  estimated  by  the 
United  States  census  to  be  the  highest  priced  in  the  Union. 

For  some  unexplained  reason  our  friends,  the  advocates 
of  the  for  "Kevenue  only  or  Exclusively,"  either  persist- 
ently ignore  or  belittle  this  feature  of  the  subject  in  hand. 


THE  REAL  EFFECT  OF  THE  TARIFF  OF  1846.  33 


VI. 

The  Eeal  Effect  of  the  Tariff  of  1846. 

No  tariff  has  been  and  continues  to  be  so  much  eulogized 
by  the  advocates  of  for  "  Eevenue  only  or  Exclusively  "  as 
that  of  1846.  Its  history,  its  principles  and  its  influence 
are  recognized  by  them  to-day  as  closely  interwoven  with 
their  present  theories  in  relation  to  sustaining  or  aiding  the 
mechanical  industries  of  the  Union.  This  tariff,  with 
slight  modifications,-  was  in  existence  about  fifteen  years. 
Says  a  leading  revenue-only  ''Journal  and  Courier:" 
"  Democrats  who  get  mad  every  time  they  read  the  words 
*  tariff  for  revenue  only, '  should  read  up  the  history  of  this 
country  between  1846  and  1861,  and  see  what  a  cock  of  the 
walk  and  lusty  youth  was  the  United  States  under  the  ban- 
ner of  '  for-re venue-only'  during  that  period,"  This  writer, 
however,  ignored  the  fact  that  at  the  end  of  "that  period" 
the  National  government  was  in  debt  $87,700,000,  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  unable  to  borrow  funds  to  de- 
fray its  current  expenses,  even  at  six  per  cent,  in  European 
money  markets,  where  at  the  same  time  the  usual  rates 
were  three  and  a  half  and  three  per  cent.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  the  platform  adopted  by  Democratic  National  Con- 
ventions for  a  third  of  a  century  show,  that  when  the  ob- 
ject is  noticed  at  all,  the  prevailing  policy  enunciated  in  re- 
lation to  the  tariff  is  for  one  embodying  the  theory  for 
revenue  only  :  witness  their  platforms  of  1876  and  1880  and 
also  that  of  1884. 

English  Views. — The  London  Times  characterized  the  re- 
port of  Robert  J.  Walker  (1845),  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
under  President  Polk,  as  being  "  The  only  Free  Tra  de  docu 
3 


34 


OUR  TARIFF. 


ment  ever  presented  to  Congress  by  an  American  minister 
of  finance;"  is  it  for  the  same  reason  that  the  advocates 
of  both  Free  Trade  and  for  revenue  only  still  eulogize 
Walker  and  his  report  so  highly?  On  the  principles  em- 
bodied in  that  report  were  based  the  peculiarities  of  the 
tariff  of  1846.  Had  the  latter  been  enacted  in  1842,  instead 
of  the  one  of  that  year,  when  our  industries  which  com- 
peted with  those  abroad  were  almost  totally  ruined,  they 
would  never  have  revived  at  all,  but  instead  become  even 
more  and  more  depressed,  being  to  a  great  extent  yet 
under  the  malign  influence  of  the  famous  compromise — 
horizontal  tariff  (1883)  of  20  per  cent  on  all  articles  im- 
ported.   (See.  p.  11.) 

The  Effect  of  Finding  Gold.— It  is  very  singular  that  the 
admirers  of  this  1846  tariff  claim  that  under  its  influence 
alone  the  country  prospered,  and,  while  ignoring  other 
stimulating  elements,  even  assert  that  ' '  the  foundation  for 
our  manufacturing  on  the  largest  scale  was  then  laid." 
Where  are  the  data  for  that  assertion  found  in  our  indus- 
trial history?  The  truth  is  rather  that  the  impulse  derived 
from  the  tariff  (1842)  carried  our  industries  forward  in  spite 
of  the  retarding  influence  of  that  of  1846,  until  they  fell  in 
with  the  stimulus  incident  to  the  Mexican  war,  which  also 
urged  them  on  till  they  received  another  impulse  because 
of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  (1848).  Under  these 
two  forces,  supplementing  each  other,  the  whole  industrial 
energy  of  the  Nation  bounded  forth  and  overwhelmed  the 
demoralizing  influence  of  that  tariff — in  principle  almost 
free  trade. 

The  Mexican  war  commenced  February,  1846;  in  the 
preparation  for  which,  and  afterward  in  the  disbandment 
of  the  army,  about  two  years  were  consumed.  Meanwhile 
the  National  government  disbursed  for  the  time  an  abund- 
ance of  money,  amounting  to  $150,000,000  in  the  form  of 
Treasury  notes,  which  passed  current  in  commercial  trans- 
actions, because  in  due  time  they  would  be  certainly  paid ; 
and  thus  was  afforded  facilities  for  carrying  on  the  business 


THE  HEAL  EFFECT  OF  TEE  TARIFF  OF  1846.  35 


of  the  country.  Immediately  after  the  discovery  of  gold 
an  immense  tide  of  migration  set  out  from  the  Old  States  for 
California,  while  it  required  an  equally  great  amount  of 
active  industry  to  fit  out  and  support  the  expeditions  and 
to  furnish  supplies  to  the  miners  after  they  had  reached  the 
mines.  This  industrial  activity  continued  for  years.  Mean- 
while, owing  to  the  numbers  of  working  men  going  to  these 
mines,  those  who  remained  at  home  in  the  old  States  had 
employment  and  at  good  wages.  Of  two  influences  which 
our  friends  persistently  ignore,  one  was  the  failure  of  crops 
in  Europe  for  three  seasons,  1847,  '8  and  '9,  and  an  enor- 
mous export  of  grain  from  this  country  supplied  the  de- 
ficiency, and,  in  consequence,  we  paid  our  debts  and  soon 
had  a  balance  in  our  favor.  The  other,  the  Crimean  war 
(1854)  and  lasting  nearly  two  years,  when  Russia  contended 
against  France  and  England.  In  the  latter  two  their  in- 
dustries were  much  deranged,  and  this  circumstance  also 
aided  us  materially,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  ports  on 
the  Black  and  Baltic  seas  were  again  opened,  and  Russia 
poured  her  surplus  wheat  into  England  and  virtually  shut 
us  out ;  meanwhile  France  and  England  resumed  their 
manufacturing,  while  the  output  of  the  gold  mines  in  Cali- 
fornia had  already  commenced  to  diminish.  "But  the  low 
tariff  or  duties  finally  had  their  natural  effect ;  the  country 
was  flooded  with  cheaper-made  foreign  goods,  our  manu- 
facturers, stimulated  by  the  excitement  of  the  times,  pro- 
duced more  than  they  could  sell  under  that  foreign  compe- 
tition, and  within  eleven  years  the  inevitable  financial  crash 
came  in  1857,"  when  the  balance  of  trade  was  against  us  to 
the  amount  of  $335,000,000. 

Tactics  of  Theorists.— The  free-trade  and  the  exclusively 
or  for-revenue-only  orators  and  writers,  usually  keep  in  the 
background  the  advantages  accruing  to  our  people  who 
work  in  factories  in  their  having  employment  and  at  re- 
munerative wages;  but  on  the  contrary,  often  assert  that 
if  no  tariff,  or  if  a  very  light  one,  was  imposed,  these  em- 
ployes could  obtain  foreign  instead  of  home  made  articles 


36 


OUR  TARIFF. 


correspondingly  cheaper — we  have  already  shown  the  fal- 
lacy of  this  assertion  (p.  14).  Again,  these  advocates  uni- 
formly make  prominent  the  alleged  profits  of  the  owners 
of  manufacturing  establishments,  often  intimating,  and 
sometimes  asserting,  that  these  profits  were  derived  from 
the  only  partially  requited  labor  of  the  employes,  while  it 
has  been  shown  that  to  the  latter  accrue  from  eight  to  nine 
tenths  of  the  advantages  derived  from  such  establishments 
(p.  29).  This  mode  of  reasoning,  if  not  designed,  has  the 
effect  of  arraying  one  portion  of  the  community  against  an- 
other, of  antagonizing,  especially,  the  employed  against  the 
employer,  by  not  presenting  the  subject  in  all  its  relations. 
When  did  these  theorists  take  the  trouble  to  point  out  the 
mutual  dependence  and  the  mutual  benefits  accruing  to 
these  two  classes  of  capitalists — the  one  furnishing  the 
money  invested,  the  other  the  labor  ? 

Interest  and  Sympathy.— From  the  general  tenor  of  the 
arguments  these  advocates  use,  it  would  seem  a  legitimate 
inference  that  they  have  more  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
foreign  manufacturer  than  they  have  in  that  of  the  Ameri- 
can. The  latter  by  his  greater  skill  in  inventing  and  using 
machinery,  and  availing  himself  of  the  greater  intelligence 
of  his  employes,  has  been  very  successful ;  is  it  because  of 
these  requirements  that  the  tariff  should  be  removed  or 
greatly  lowered  ?  The  effect  of  which  would  be  that  the 
foreigner,  who  has  not  been  so  skillful  in  inventing  and  ap- 
plying machinery,  would  derive  an  extra  profit  from  his 
own  lack  of  energy,  as  well  as  from  the  ignorance  of  his 
own  workpeople.  Has  not  the  American  a  claim  upon  the 
proceeds  of  his  skill  and  energy,  and  has  not  his  employes 
the  same  for  the  outcome  of  their  greater  intelligence  ? 
These  advocates  appear,  also,  to  have  more  sympathy  for 
the  foreign  workpeople  than  for  the  American,  because  in 
proportion  as  they  take  away  employment  from  the  latter 
do  they  enhance  the  price  of  the  labor  of  the  former. 

The  Retrograde  and  the  Adyance. — Our  for-revenue-exclu- 
sively  friends  seem  to  have  stepped  back  a  half  century  or 


THE  REAL  EFFECT  OF  TEE  TARIFF  OF  1846.  37 


more,  away  into  the  gloom  of  Nullification  times,  or  even 
beyond,  and  virtually  take  the  position  then  held,  that  the 
Americans  ought  to  be  satisfied  if  they  supplied  their  own 
wants  from  their  own  workshops — nothing  more.  In  that 
day  nearly  all  the  statesmen,  and  most  of  the  intelligent 
people,  little  dreamed  of  the  vast  improvements  in  store  for 
bur  own  mechanical  industries  that  have  since  come  into 
existence.  The  American  manufacturers  of  to-day  look  far 
beyond  that  primitive  idea ;  their  ambition  is  not  only  to 
supply  the  wants  of  their  own  people,  but  they  even  have 
the  audacity  of  competing  in  the  markets  of  the  world  with 
European  manufacturers  of  the  same  class  of  articles. 


38 


OUR  TARIFF. 


VII. 

The  Philanthropic  Theory. 

Here  is  an  opportunity  for  the  philanthropic  professor  of 
political  economy  to  step  in.  He,  far  away  from  the  tur- 
moil of  practical  life,  has  wrought  out  in  his  study  a  beauti 
f ul  theory,  a  sort  of  humanitarian  idea  that  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Christendom,  at  least,  are  brethren — as  they  are  in 
one  sense — and,  therefore,  there  should  be  free  trade  between 
the  nations  as  of  one  vast  brotherhood.  That  sounds  well ; 
but  unfortunately  the  professor  ignores  the  fact  that  all 
the  nations  are  not  at  present  prepared  for  the  adoption  of 
his  theory,  and  while  he  is  experimenting  the  American 
workman  and  his  family  would  be  found  in  sad  straits,  be- 
cause his  wages  must  be  either  lowered  or  stopped  alto- 
gether. The  odds  are  too  much  against  the  manufacturer 
in  this  comparatively  new  country,  where  workmen  are  not 
so  numerous,  and  where  from  that  fact  alone,  if  for  no 
other,  wages  must  be  higher  than  is  paid  for  similar  service 
in  the  crowded  workshops  of  the  Old  World. 

Does  the  professor  in  order  to  carry  out  his  theory  desire 
the  American  workman  to  be  denied  many  of  the  comforts 
of  life,  in  consequence  of  his  being  cramped  in  his  wages  as 
his  fellows  are  in  the  workshops  of  Europe  ?  Practical 
Americans  do  not  wish  to  grind  the  faces  of  their  work- 
people ;  while  they  cannot  see  why  property  in  the  form  of 
imported  merchandise  should  not  bear  its  share  of  the  cur- 
rent expenses  of  the  government,  and  so  long  as  that  prin- 
ciple is  just,  there  ought  to  be  a  tax  or  tariff  on  that  class  of 
property. 

Reciprocity  Treaties. — Men  may  patronize  one  another — 
nations  never ;  they  must  act  toward  each  other  with  mutual 


THE  PHILANTHBOPIC  THEORY. 


39 


recognition  of  rights— that  is,  on  an  equality.  On  this  prin- 
ciple only  can  treaties  of  reciprocity  in  trade  be  negotiated. 
It  would  be  worthy  the  effort  of  our  philanthropic  professors 
and  lecturers  in  favor  of  free  trade  or  even  for-revenue- 
only  to  secure  such  treaties,  and,  for  the  sake  of  humanity, 
benefit  the  workpeople  of  Europe  by  increasing  their  wages 
and  proportionately  lowering  the  tariff  on  their  exports  to 
the  United  States,  their  principal  customers.  This  would 
be  a  vast  benefit  to  the  European  operatives  themselves, 
and  bring  no  loss  to  their  manufacturers,  as  such  loss,  if  any, 
would  be  more  than  made  up  by  the  diminished  duty  and 
by  the  increase  of  sales.  Treaties  based  on  these  humane 
principles  may  be  in  the  future,  but  meanwhile  the  Ameri- 
can government  says  to  the  people  in  Europe  who  wish 
employment,  "come  here  and  we  will  give  you  farms  as 
your  own  to  cultivate ;  we  will  adopt  you  if  you  honestly 
wish  to  become  citizens,  and  will  educate  your  children 
equally  with  our  own,  and  our  working  people  will  share 
with  you  the  advantages  they  enjoy,  but  we  cannot,  for  the 
sake  of  strangers,  oppress  our  own  laboring  men  by  lower- 
ing their  wages  to  the  level  of  that  paid  you." 

A  Tariff  Based  on  Wages.— We  can  see  no  fairer  adjust- 
ment— if  it  were  possible — of  this  question  between  the 
United  States  and  Europe,  than  to  base  the  tariff  on  the  ag- 
gregated wages  paid  in  the  respective  countries  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  manufactured  articles  thus  laid  down  in  our 
market.  For  illustration,  take  an  example  that  is  among 
the  less  complex.  We  impose  an  average  duty  of  55  per 
cent  on  imported  silk  fabrics;  now  let  us  compare  the 
wages  of  the  operatives  engaged  in  that  class  of  manufac- 
turing in  the  several  European  countries.  When  the 
American  manufacturer  pays  one  dollar  or  100  cents,  the 
English  pays  48 ;  the  French,  33 ;  the  Italian,  the  German 
and  the  Belgians,  each  25.  The  average  amount  of  wages 
paid  by  these  five  is  33  cents,  which  would  require  a  duty  of 
67  per  cent  to  be  imposed  on  the  silk  goods  we  import,  in 
order  to  equalize  the  cost  of  its  production — that  is  12  per 


40 


OUR  TARIFF. 


cent  more  than  our  present  tariff,  the  raw  material  being 
assumed  to  be  equal  in  cost  in  both  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  In  accordance  with  this  theory  or  arrangement,  if 
the  foreign  manufacturers  wish  to  lower  our  tariff,  they  can 
do  so  by  raising  the  wages  of  their  own  employes.  For 
example,  instead  of  paying  the  average  of  33  cents,  they 
pay  66,  that  would  bring  our  tariff  on  silk  down  to  34  per 
cent,  and  if  they  increased  the  wages  to  75,  it  would  bring 
the  tariff  down  to  25  per  cent,  and  so  on. 

An  Equal  Basis  of  Cost.— The  tariff  thus  regulated  would 
be  as  far  as  possible  an  equalizer,  but  in  respect  only  to  the 
wages  paid  the  operatives,  and  thus  far  the  American  manu- 
facturer would  be  on  an  equality  with  the  European,  but 
even  then  the  former  would  be  at  a  disadvantage,  owing  to 
the  lower  rate  of  interest  paid  on  capital  in  Europe,  and  the 
lower  rate  of  wages  paid  in  erecting  buildings  and  in  provid- 
ing machinery,  and  in  addition  the  greater  skill  acquired 
during  generations  in  manufacturing.  The  latter  statement 
is  verified  in  the  case  of  articles  of  a  very  high  grade  of 
workmanship,  which  as  yet  American  skill  has  not  been 
able  to  equal — such  as  certain  classes  of  velvets  and  silks. 
The  American  manufacturers  would,  however,  be  willing  to 
enter  into  competition  with  their  European  brethren,  even 
on  these  unequal  conditions,  trusting  to  the  general  intelli- 
gence— an  important  element  of  success — of  their  own  em- 
ployes to  make  their  work  more  perfect,  under  their  own 
invention  of  labor-saving  machinery  and  its  appropriate 
application,  together  with  their  own  energy  and  skill  in  car- 
rying on  their  works  and  putting  their  goods  in  the  markets 
of  the  world.  When  these  facts  and  comparisons  are  taken 
into  consideration,  it  is  found  that  the  present  United  States 
tariff,  in  every  instance,  falls  below  the  average  percentage 
of  European  wages  that  would  in  that  respect  make  the 
cost  of  production  equal  in  both  countries. 

A  Worthy  End  to  be  Secured.— If  we  happen  to  have  more 
revenue  than  we  want,  let  the  tariff  be  adjusted  on  common- 


THE  PHILANTHBOPIC  THEORY. 


41 


sense  principles,  meanwhile  making  the  interests  of  our  own 
workpeople  of  primary  not  secondary  importance.  For  il- 
lustration, if  the  choice  has  to  be  made,  which  is  the  better, 
high  tariff  to  make  the  importation  of  certain  goods  almost 
prohibitory,  or  by  a  low  one  to  make  our  own  production  of 
the  same  kind  of  articles  almost  prohibitory?  Our  friends 
for  revenue  only,  or  exclusively,  etc.,  are  often  exercised  lest 
the  tariff  should  be  so  high  as  to  prohibit  the  importation  of 
certain  goods  that  compete  with  those  of  our  own  make,  but 
it  seems  they  are  not  moved  to  much  sadness  because  of  a 
tariff  being  so  low  as  to  prevent  our  own  workpeople  having 
a  fair  share  of  employment. 

Misleading:  Statements.-— These  advocates  often  use  argu- 
ments that  are  misleading.  They  tell  the  bewildered  work- 
man or  mechanic  that  the  government  imposes  a  tariff  of  55 
per  cent  on  imported  silk  goods  in  consequence  he — "the 
down  trodden" — must  pay  for  his  wife's  silk  dress  fifty-five 
cents  on  a  dollar  more  than  he  would  if  there  were  no  tariff, 
or  in  proportion  if  a  very  low  one.  The  simple  man  imag- 
ines he  has  been  treated  ill,  but  his  common  sense  wife,  de- 
tecting the  absurdity  of  his  complaint,  tells  him  she  does  not 
want  high-priced  silk  dresses,  if  silk  dresses  at  all.  If  rich 
men  buy  for  their  wives  or  daughters  silk  or  velvet  dresses  of 
foreign  make  and  at  a  very  high  price  by  all  means  let  them. 
"Why  should  any  one  object  to  the  purchase  of  high-priced 
materials  of  dress  by  those  who  are  able  and  willing  to  buy 
them.  For  every  hundred  dollars  they  thus  pay  for  foreign 
make  velvets  or  silks,  fifty-five  go  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  National  government,  and  thus  these  buyers  aid  the  peo- 
ple at  large,  while  in  addition  affording  occasions  of  employ- 
ment to  thousands  upon  thousands  in  our  own  silk  factories, 
but  producing  a  lower  graded  article.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  duty — the  highest  we  impose  on  textile  fabrics — our 
workers  in  silk  obtain  fair  wages  for  making  ribbons  and 
trimmings  and  dress  silks,  and  likewise  velvets  of  a  lower 
grade,  as  we  have  not  yet  acquired  the  skill  to  make  the 
very  highest  class  of  silk  manufacture.   If  no  duty  or  very 


42 


OUB  TABIFF. 


little  was  levied  on  foreign  silks,  the  low  wages  paid  silk 
operatives,  especially  in  France  and  Italy,  would  compel  this 
particular  manufacture  to  cease  altogether  in  the  United 
States,  unless  we  paid  our  workers  in  silk  the  same  rate  of 
wages.  This  industry  has  grown  so  rapidly  since  1861  that 
there  are  invested  in  it  in  the  Union  nearly  40  million  dol- 
lars, and  in  consequence,  in  this  manufacture,  multitudes  of 
Americans,  male  and  female,  especially  the  latter,  find  em- 
ployment. The  present  tariff  pays  well  to  the  treasury; 
though  the  amount  of  silk  goods  imported  is  limited  in 
quantity,  yet,  the  duty  being  high,  the  revenue  derived  is 
very  large.  Moreover  it  comes  from  the  rich,  who  choose  to 
indulge  their  taste  in  that  form  of  luxury. 

Luxuries. — The  sum  of  the  matter  is,  that  those  who  pur- 
chase luxuries  from  foreign  lands  confer  benefits  upon  the 
country  at  large,  by  paying  the  heavy  duties  usually  im- 
posed upon  such  articles,  and  this  principle  is  carried  out,  as 
the  presumption  is  that  none  but  the  wealthy  will  purchase 
that  class  of  goods.  It  is  well  understood  by  the  intelligent 
that  the  introduction  of  elaborate  works  of  art  and  speci- 
mens of  skill  and  culture,  such  as  bronzes,  paintings,  etc., 
have  a  refining  influence  upon  the  people,  and  for  that  rea- 
son the  duty  upon  them  should  be  only  nominal  This  class 
of  property  stands  in  a  different  relation  to  American  labor 
than  that  which  is  used  in  the  production  of  articles  that 
supply  a  common  want,  and  yet  such  importations,  when 
large,  are  among  the  evidences  of  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try, and  indicate  that  the  majority  of  the  people  have  em- 
ployment at  remunerative  wages,  while  the  capital  invested 
pays  fair  dividends. 


WAGES. 


43 


VIII. 

Wages. 

It  is  clear  that  the  chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of  manu- 
facturers in  the  United  States  competing  successfully  with 
those  of  Europe  must  be  the  vital  question  of  wages — esti- 
mated by  practical  men  to  range  in  this  country,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  wages  paid,  from  80  to  90  per  cent  of  the  cost  in 
producing  the  article  made,  while  in  Europe  it  ranges  also 
in  proportion  to  the  wages  paid.  The  money  invested  in 
lands,  in  buildings,  in  machinery,  and  raw  material  is 
found  to  be  comparatively  a  small  amount  of  the  aggregate 
expended,  when  compared  with  the  continuous  expenses  of 
hiring  the  workpeople.  On  account  of  the  low  rate  of  in- 
terest on  money  and  low  wages,  it  costs  less  to  erect  build- 
ings and  obtain  machinery  in  Europe  than  in  the  United 
States,  but  it  takes  no  more  heat  to  smelt  a  ton  of  iron  in 
England  than  in  Pennsylvania,  no  more  power  to  weave  a 
yard  of  cloth  in  Manchester,  England,  than  in  Lowell, 
Massachusetts,  or  to  make  a  yard  of  silk  in  Lyons,  France, 
than  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey.  Yet  there  is  a  vast  difference 
in  the  expense,  arising  from  the  fact  that  the  American 
manufacturer  pays  from  two  to  three  times  as  much  to  his 
operatives  as  is  paid  by  his  European  rival. 

The  Illustrations.— Suppose  a  manufacturer  in  Lowell 
pays  in  wages  $2000  a  week,  while  a  rival  in  Manchester, 
making  the  same  style  of  goods,  pays  but  $1000  in  produc- 
ing the  same  amount.  This  alone  enables  the  latter  to  sell 
the  week's  product  of  his  factory  $1000  cheaper  than  the 
former.  Under  these  conditions  the  American  must  retire 
from  the  business  or  reduce  the  wages  of  his  employes  to 


44 


OUR  TARIFF. 


the  level  of  that  paid  by  his  rival,  the  Englishman.  This 
statement  in  respect  to  the  difference  in  amount  of  wages 
paid  the  workpeople  in  Europe  and  those  paid  the  same 
class  in  the  United  States  is  based  upon  well  ascertained 
facts. 

Again :  Col.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  the  chief  of  the  Massachu- 
setts "  Labor  Bureau,"  in  its  annual  report  (1884),  institutes 
a  comparison  between  the  weekly  wages  paid  operatives 
in  twenty  four  separate  industries  in  Great  Britain  and  the 
corresponding  ones  in  Massachusetts,  and  with  the  follow- 
ing results:  In  Great  Britain  the  average  weekly  wages 
paid  was  $5.33,  while  in  Massachusetts  it  was  $10.31.  It  is 
thus  seen  that  the  wages  paid  in  the  latter  lacks  only  a  few 
cents  of  being  double  that  paid  in  the  former.  As  we  learn 
from  other  sources,  very  nearly  the  same  rates  of  compari- 
son in  wages  prevail  between  the  foundries  and  furnaces 
of  the  United  States  and  those  of  Scotland  and  England, 
while  it  is  strikingly  true  of  the  shipyards  on  the  Clyde 
and  on  the  Delaware. 

Shipyards. — As  so  much  attention  has  recently  been  di- 
rected to  the  building  of  American  iron  ships  and  the  revi- 
val of  our  navy,  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  notice  this  item 
more  fully.  A  shipyard  in  England  or  on  the  Clyde  em- 
ploying 2000  men  of  all  grades,  pays  weekly  $10,700,  while 
on  the  Delaware  the  same  number  of  men  performing 
similar  work,  receive  weekly  $22,540.  Mr.  John  Eoach,  a 
builder  of  iron  ships  at  Chester,  on  the  Delaware,  says  that 
90  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  an  iron  ship  is  in  the  wages,  and 
the  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  New  York  city,  a  well-known 
statesman  and  manufacturer,  is  reported  as  confirming  in 
general  terms  that  statement  in  respect  to  the  cost  in  other 
American  manufacturing;  with  this  opinion  also  coincides 
that  of  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  of  Boston,  a  celebrated  ex- 
pert and  political  economist. 

Statements  of  Experts. — At  a  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, held  in  Montreal,  August  1884,  the  latter  gentleman 


WAGES. 


45 


demonstrated  that  the  proportion  of  wage-earners  to  employ- 
ers was  15  to  1.  He  assumed  that  in  the  United  States  the 
maximum  rate  of  profit  on  capital  "  does  not  exceed  ten  per 
cent,  and  that  the  overwhelming  mass  of  annual  profit  is 
shared  by  those  depending  on  work  for  subsistence."  "In 
the  long  run,  the  wage-earners  must  get  90  per  cent  of  the 
annual  profit."  uThe  profits  in  manufacturing  were 
only  one  half  what  they  were  fifty  years  ago,  and 
while  they  were  steadily  diminishing  the  wages  of  work- 
men were  advancing."  In  the  same  line  of  illustration  is 
the  statement  of  Col.  Wright,  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics 
in  Massachusetts,  that  in  twenty  years,  from  1860  to  1880, 
the  average  annual  wages  for  each  one  employed  in  making 
shoes,  "men,  women,  and  children,  increased  from  $251.48 
to  $387.21,  yet  the  shoes  were  cheaper  and  better  made  by 
the  improved  machinery." 

In  connection  with  this  is  given  the  statement  of  Sir 
Richard  Temple,  made  at  Montreal,  August  1884,  "That  the 
aggregate  of  British  national  industries  was  beginning  to 
fall  behind  that  of  the  United  States,  and  that,  regarding 
thrift,  the  growth  of  savings  banks  in  England  was  moder- 
ately greater,  though  being  much  less  than  in  the  United 
States." 

A  Further  Illustration.— The  iron  ore  and  the  coal  in  the 
mine,  and  the  timber  standing  in  the  forest,  are  in  theory 
worth  nothing  until  the  skill  and  labor  of  man  manipulates 
them  and  finally  puts  them  together  in  the  form  of  some 
article,  it  may  be  the  form  of  a  plough  or  of  an  iron  ship. 
From  this  data  it  is  estimated  that  nine-tenths  of  the  direct 
advantages  derived  from  building  iron  ships  or  making 
ploughs  accrue  in  the  form  of  employment  and  wages  to 
the  mechanics,  who  prepare  their  materials  and  work  upon 
them,  and  in  this  way  they  derive  dividends  from  their  capi- 
tal, their  skill  and  their  muscle. 

The  Yirtual  Protection.— It  is  proper  to  notice  in  this 
connection  that  the  builders  of  iron  ships  on  the  Clyde  have 


46 


OUR  TARIFF. 


a  very  efficient,  indirect  protection,  which  becomes  a  great 
inducement  for  capitalists  to  invest  in  building  them,  for 
in  consequence  of  this  they  can  be  sold  to  a  much  greater 
advantage.  That  protection  consists  in  the  enormous  sub- 
sidies paid  annually  by  the  British  government  to  the 
owners  of  these  ocean-going  iron  steamships,  in  addition  to 
ample  remuneration  for  carrying  the  mails.  These  subsi- 
dies far  exceed  in  value  any  aid  American  ship-builders  in- 
cidentally receive  from  the  operation  of  the  tariff.  The 
advancement  of  its  marine  is  a  benefit, to  the  whole  British 
empire,  and  the  encouragement  thus  given  is  in  the  form  of 
paying  liberally  for  whatever  the  government  requires  of 
these  steamers,  such  as  carrying  the  mails  or  transporting 
troops.  A  similar  practical  recognition  of  the  importance 
of  sustaining  our  merchant  marine  ought  to  be  made  by 
Congress. 

Reports  on  Wages  Paid  in  Europe.— The  very  important 
item  of  wages  requires  further  elucidation.  The  national 
government  during  the  administration  of  President  Hayes 
instituted  for  the  first  time  systematic  measures  to  ascer- 
tain the  amount  of  wages  paid  the  operatives  in  foreign 
manufacturing  establishments.  The  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Evarts, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  directed  the  United  States  consuls 
in  the  various  cities  of  Europe  to  institute  inquiries  in  re- 
spect to  the  hours  of  labor  required,  the  rate  of  wages  paid, 
and  also  as  to  the  habits  of  the  working  people.  The  re- 
ports of  these  consuls  (1879)  proved,  among  other  items, 
that  the  average  wages  paid  in  the  United  States  for  similar 
service  were  more  than  double  that  paid  in  Great  Britain ; 
in  France,  two-thirds  more;  in  Belgium  and  Denmark, 
nearly  the  same,  while  in  Italy,  Spain  and  Germany,  it  was 
more  than  three  times  as  much,  and  in  the  Netherlands  four 
times.  The  consuls  also  stated  in  their  reports  that  bread 
and  the  ordinary  necessaries  of  life  were  better  and  cheaper 
in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe ;  that  in  the  latter  work- 
people could  afford  to  have  meat  only  once  or  twice  a  week, 
and  frequently  not  at  all,  while  the  living  in  comfortable 


WAGE 8. 


47 


homes,  as  enjoyed  by  the  industrious  and  temperate  people 
in  the  United  States  who  work  for  wages,  were  almost 
unknown  to  the  mass  of  the  laboring  class  in  Europe.  It 
is  sometimes  stated,  however,  by  American  tourists,  that 
living  is  cheaper  in  certain  localities  in  Europe  than  in  some 
portions  of  the  United  States ;  but  that  condition  evidently 
results  from  the  low  rents  of  buildings  and  the  low  wages 
paid  the  caterers,  and  not  because  of  the  cheapness  of  the 
food  itself.  These  consular  reports  also  stated  that  great 
misery  resulted  to  the  working  people,  especially  in  Eng- 
land, because  of  their  using  intoxicating  drinks  to  excess, 
and  from  strikes,  the  latter  causing  waste  of  time,  while 
inducing  habits  of  idleness  and  the  consumption  of  savings. 
These  reports  attracted  universal  attention,  and  their  sub- 
stance was  quoted  by  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  London,  which 
added:  "  More  misery  results  in  England  and  Germany 
from  drinking,  strikes,  and  socialism  than  from  all  other 
causes,  hard  times  included." 

Efforts  not  Helaxed. — The  general  government  itself  has 
not  thus  far  relaxed  its  efforts  in  this  respect,  since  these 
reports  were  handed  in,  while  the  investigation  has  been 
carried  still  further  by  private  enterprise.  Mr.  R.  P.  Porter, 
a  member  of  the  "Tariff  Commission"  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Arthur  in  1881,  was  commissioned  by  the  New  York 
Tribune  to  investigate  the  subject  more  fully.  The  results 
have  been  issued  in  its  extras  84  and  85.  The  later  reports 
(1882-1883)  go  very  much  into  detail,  and  to  them  we  refer 
the  reader  for  the  confirmation  of  the  general  truth  of  our 
statements  in  respect  to  the  low  wages  paid  in  Europe,  when 
compared  with  those  paid  in  the  United  States. 


48 


OUR  TARIFF. 


IX. 

Low  Wages— How  Caused. 

The  cause  of  low  wages  in  England  may  be  traced  to  the 
over  crowded  population,  and  not  to  the  System  of  free- 
trade;  for  the  latter  under  the  circumstances  is  certainly 
the  best  for  her  workpeople,  especially  in  regard  to  their 
supplies  of  food.  Her  facilities  for  manufacturing  far  ex- 
cel to-day  those  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world ;  because 
of  her  policy  of  protection  in  times  past,  her  mechanical 
industries  have  been  firmly  established,  and  her  workshops 
have  never  been  broken  up  by  foreign  enemies,  as  the  Island 
lias  not  been  invaded  for  the  last  eight  hundred  years. 
During  the  wars  that  grew  out  of  the  French  Ee volution 
—and  which  lasted  for  twenty-five  years — her  industrial 
interests  progressed  far  beyond  precedent,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  corresponding  industries  of  the  nations  on 
the  Continent  were  broken  up  again  and  again  by  hostile 
invasions,  and  manufacturing  nearly  ceased,  except  that 
pertaining  to  the  carrying  on  of  war.  These  influences 
combined  to  push  forward  the  mechanical  industries  of 
England,  especially  of  every  kind  used  in  the  domestic  life 
of  her  own  people,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  outside  civilized 
world,  and  gave  them  an  impulse  which  carried  them  so 
far  in  advance  of  those  of  other  nations  that  in  the  main 
they  have  never  yet  been  overtaken.  Her  laboring  popula- 
tion, meanwhile,  increased  so  much  that  her  workshops 
were  crowded  to  repletion,  and  multitudes  were  out  of  em- 
ployment ;  the  excessive  competition  thus  induced  brought 
about  the  reduction  of  wages.  To  supply  this  large  popula- 
tion with  food  and  as  cheaply  as  possible  induced  the  gov- 
ernment, in  the  interests  of  the  laboring  classes,  to  remit 


LOW  WAGES— HOW  CAUSED. 


49 


the  tax  which  had  been  levied  hitherto  on  that  class  of 
property  known  as  corn,  which  term  covered  all  cereals 
used  in  supplying  food  to  this  large  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion. Cereals  thus  took  rank  as  one  kind  of  raw  material, 
and  were  as  essential  for  carrying  on  England's  manufac- 
turing as  was  the  wool  and  iron  ore  or  coal,  or  any  other 
material  which  she  put  in  shape  for  the  use  of  her  own  peo- 
ple or  to  sell  to  the  outside  world. 

The  Discussion. — There  has  recently  been  much  discussion 
in  relation  to  our  own  over-production  of  manufactured 
goods,  and  the  reason  given  why  we  fail  to  dispose  of  this 
surplus  to  other  nations  is,  that  we  have  imposed  a  tariff 
so  high  upon  the  goods  imported  from  the  latter  that  they 
are  unable  to  exchange  with  us  on  equal  terms.  Then  it  is 
urged  that  all  our  duties  should  be  removed  in  order  that 
we  could  exchange  our  surplus  of  manufactured  products 
for  those  of  foreign  nations.  This  surplusage  has  been  the 
outgrowth  of  the  fair  wages  paid  our  workpeople,  as  by 
means  of  that  they  were  induced  to  labor.  Suppose  that 
our  manufacturers  lower  the  price  of  these  goods  to  what 
they  could  afford  had  they  paid  the  same  wages  that  are 
paid  in  Europe,  and,  at  so  much  loss,  dispose  of  the  present 
stock  on  hand,  what  would  be  the  result  in  the  future?  The 
inevitable  answer  would  be,  that  they  must  hereafter  lower 
the  wages  of  their  employes  to  the  European  standard  in 
order  to  meet  their  European  rivals  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.  The  ultimate  effect  would  be  to  speed  our  work- 
people on  the  way  toward  pauperism,  at  which  goal  un- 
told multitudes  of  English  workpeople  have  either  already 
arrived  or  are  in  the  near  vicinity. 

Results  of  Low  Wages. — It  is  not  out  of  place  in  this  con- 
nection to  notice  the  effects  produced  where  low  or  inade- 
quate wages  prevail.  Since  our  commercial  intercourse  is 
more  intimate  with  Great  Britain  than  with  any  other 
country  of  Europe,  and  inasmuch  as  our  mechanical  pur- 
suits have  equally  close  relations  with  those  of  her  people, 

5-V  -'"'4/  -  -  ■'     >         :  :  . 


50 


OUR  TARIFF. 


we  will  confine  this  notice  to  that  country  alone.  In  Greao 
Britain  the  system  of  low  wages  has  reduced  more  to  abso- 
lute pauperism  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  in  any 
other  European  country.  American  Consul-General  Mer- 
ritt,  at  London,  reports  that,  in  1883,  in  the  British  Isles  the 
number  of  paupers  was  1,010,061— one  in  every  33  of  the 
inhabitants  —  and  while  the  British  government  spent 
20,000,000  dollars  on  its  public  schools,  it  spent  52  millions 
on  its  paupers.  The  same  year  $91,000,000  were  spent  in 
the  United  States  on  the  public  schools. 

The  Corrupting  Influences. — The  degrading  effects  of 
pauperism  are  not  limited  to  one  generation  alone,  but  ex- 
tend much  farther,  and  corrupt  the  inner  life  of  both 
parents  and  children,  destroy  the  independence  of  those 
who  labor,  and  fritter  away  their  self-respect.  The  evil 
propagates  itself ;  the  children,  seeing  their  parents  content 
with  being  paupers,  look  upon  that  condition  of  life  as  not 
disgraceful.  This  seems  to  be,  as  far  as  we  are  concerned, 
the  worst  feature  of  the  case ;  and  its  general  truth  can  be 
partially  verified  to-day  in  the  pauper  asylums  of  New 
York  City.  In  taking  the  census  of  the  nativities  of  the 
inmates  of  these  institutions,  it  will  be  found,  that  in  addi- 
tion to  the  foreign  born,  that  of  those  who  claim  to  be 
natives,  perhaps  four -fifths  are  the  offspring  of  foreign 
parents,  and,  still  further,  that  about  an  equal  number  of 
the  latter  are  from  the  British  Isles.  The  American  people 
must  eradicate  these  evils  or  they  will  extend  to  future 
generations.  To-day  there  is  growing  up  among  us,  espe- 
cially in  the  large  cities,  a  generation  of  this  class  that  is 
more  or  less  imbued  with  the  negative  elements  of  non-self- 
respect  and  non-independence  of  character.  Such  material 
does  not  produce  industrious  and  self-supporting  citizens. 
In  the  practical  application  of  the  theory  of  4 '  for  revenue 
only  or  exclusively"  to  the  wages  of  those  employed  the 
United  States  government  would  drive  a  hard  bargain  with 
its  own  workpeople— those  who  earn  their  living  by  hired 
labor— and  yet  the  American  people  are  blandly  invited  to 


LOW  WAGES— HOW  CAUSED.  51 


enter  upon  the  first  stage  on  the  way  toward  pauperism, 
the  natural  outgrowth  of  low  wages  or  an  insufficiency  of 
the  means  of  self-support.  The  advocates  of  these  theories 
pooh !  pooh !  the  results  of  the  low-wages  system  when  ap- 
plied in  the  United  States.  Is  it  because,  when  compared 
with  that  of  England,  its  evils  have  not  yet  attained  so 
great  proportions?  The  influence  is  evidently  increasing, 
and  will  in  time  interfere  with  the  progress  of  our  mechani- 
cal industries  if  we  lower  so  much  the  wages  of  the  work- 
people therein  engaged. 

The  Disclaimer. — The  advocates  for  free  trade  or  for  reve- 
nue exclusively  exclaim,  what  have  we  to  do  with  the  pau- 
pers of  England  and  the  vile  homes  in  which  so  many  of 
her  workpeople  live?  We  answer:  experience  shows  that 
even  the  limited  application  of  either  of  your  theories  to 
our  mechanical  industries  has  hitherto  crippled  and,  in 
some  instances,  ruined  them,  and  if  fully,  put  in  practice, 
and  thus  lowering  wages  still  further,  will  produce,  though 
in  a  modified  form,  results  in  the  United  States  similar  to 
those  existing  to-day  in  England. 

National  Training. — No  intelligent  patriot  nor  true  states- 
man wishes  to  introduce  measures  that  would  demoralize 
the  minds  and  habits  of  the  people  by  frittering  away  their 
self-reliance  and  independence,  but  rather  that  they  should 
support  themselves  and  train  their  children  in  the  same 
elevating  principles,  that  they  may  become  good  citizens. 
This  can  be  brought  about,  to  a  great  extent,  by  the  work- 
people themselves— male  and  female — having  wages  that 
will  inspire  them  with  hope  and  enable  them  by  means  of 
industry  and  judicious  economy  and  temperance  to  live  in 
comfort.  But  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  grade  of  patriot- 
ism, or  how  shall  we  appropriately  characterize  the  inhu- 
manity and  selfishness  of  associated  mechanics,  for  a  tem- 
porary gain  to  themselves,  preventing  young  men  or  boys 
learning  trades  or  some  mechanic  art,  by  means  of  which 
they  can  honestly  support  themselves  and  become  worthy 


52 


OUR  TARIFF. 


and  self-respecting  citizens,  rather  than  enforced  idlers  and 
perhaps,  in  time,  criminals  before  the  law?  Can  a  greater 
wrong  than  this  be  inflicted  upon  American  young  men? 
Yet  we  often  read  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day  of  such 
outrages  being  committed. 

That  would  be  a  singular  process  of  training  a  virtuous 
and  noble  man,  to  permit  him  to  pass  his  youth  amid  de- 
baucheries and  vices,  as  if  his  soul  would  be  more  pure  in 
after  life  because  of  being  thus  contaminated !  We  would 
prefer  the  young  man  should  be  pure  from  the  start  and 
continue  so  through  life ;  and  thus  we  want  the  American 
people  to  pass  their  National  youth  amid  encouraging  and 
elevating  surroundings,  educational,  industrial,  and  moral. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  over-production 
which  arises  from  persistent  and  energetic  labor,  because  of 
high  wages  and  the  hope  of  reward,  as  in  the  United  States 
is  preferable  to  the  over-production  which  results  because 
of  low  wages,  as  in  England,  and  which  tempts  the  manu- 
facturer to  extend  his  operations  oftentimes  unwisely. 


WAGES  SEEK  THEIR  LEVEL. 


53 


X. 

Wages  Seek  their  Level. 

Owing  to  the  easy  and  frequent  intercourse  between  the 
civilized  nations  of  to-day,  the  products  of  both  agricultural 
and  mechanical  industries  are  coming  more  and  more  into 
competition  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  The  articles  thus 
on  sale  will  gradually  approach  each  other  in  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, and  if  manufacturers  find  themselves  working  at  a 
disadvantage  in  this  respect  with  their  rivals,  they  will  use 
means  to  lower  their  expenses.  Experience  has  shown  that 
their  most  effective  measure  to  accomplish  that  end  is  to  cut 
down  the  wages  of  those  whom  they  employ,  because  in 
that  item  is  incurred  the  greatest  amount  of  cost.  This  pro- 
cess, unless  counteracted,  will  surely  continue  until  the 
wages  paid  in  the  workshops  of  Europe,  and  in  those  of  the 
United  States,  will  become  virtually  the  same  in  amount. 
Such  will  be  the  result  of  this  excessive  international  com- 
petition, and  which  can  be  avoided  by  us  in  only  one  way, 
and  that  is  by  Congress  imposing  a  tax  or  tariff  upon  foreign 
manufactured  articles  which  come  specially  into  competition 
with  our  own  industries,  in  such  manner  as  to  equalize  the 
cost  of  production. 

The  Cure  of  Over-Production.— When  competition  be- 
tween our  own  manufacturers  is  carried  to  extremes  it 
results  in  over-production—that  evil  must  cure  itself,  and  if 
proper  prudence  is  exercised  it  need  not  occur.  The  fault  is 
in  the  want  of  foresight  in  the  capitalists,  who  for  illustra- 
tion, when  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of  cotton  mills  mak- 
ing a  certain  class  of  goods,  and  in  such  quantities  as  to 
supply  the  market,  outside  capitalists  step  in  and  establish 


54 


OUB  TABIFF. 


more  mills  and  add  to  the  stock  on  hand !  In  consequence 
the  market  becomes  glutted ;  the  result,  all  the  mills  lose 
and  the  weaker  become  bankrupt,  not  because  of  a  high 
tariff,  but  of  a  lack  of  common-sense  business  capacity  in 
those  who  interfere  with  a  market  evenly  balanced,  both  in 
production  and  in  consumption. 

The  charge  that  a  high  tariff  stimulates  industry  too 
much  seems  to  be  a  favorite  argument  with  free  traders,  if 
we  may  judge  from  the  number  of  their  writers,  who  assert 
that  over-production  is  such  a  result;  one  saying  that 
41  through  excessive  competition  stimulated  by  high  protec- 
tion, business  is  conducted  with  little  profit ;  "  another,  that 
"  the  excessive  tariff  stimulates  the  industries  which  it  pro- 
tects into  over-production."  These  writers  do  not  appear  to 
realize  that  the  stagnation  of  business,  because  of  our  over- 
production, is  not  quite  as  bad  as  that  brought  by  competi- 
tion with  foreign  low  wages.  But  in  this  matter,  however, 
the  tariff  is  not  at  all  in  fault,  as  it  does  not  propose  to 
furnish  brains  nor  business  talent  to  capitalists  who  happen 
to  have  money  lying  idle.  This  lack  of  practical  wisdom  is 
by  no  means  limited  to  the  United  States,  as  free-trade 
England  has  often  been  subjected  to  similar  mismanage- 
ment. 

Higher  Wages. — It  is  sometimes  argued  that  a  tariff  im- 
posed on  this  equalizing  principle  does  not  have  the  effect 
of  keeping  up  in  this  country  the  wages  of  those  employed 
in  mechanical  industries.  How  do  gentlemen  using  this  line 
of  argument  account  for  the  acknowledged  fact  that 
wages  are  higher  in  the  United  States,  and  always  have 
been,  than  in  Europe?  This  fact  was  recognized  by  our 
leading  statesmen  at  the  very  inauguration  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  also  that  some  measure  must  be  adopted  by 
which  our  manufacturers  could  meet,  even  in  our  own 
market,  those  of  Europe  on  equal  terms  as  to  cost.  That 
sentiment  is  embodied  in  the  preamble  to  the  first  tariff 
(1790)  enacted  by  us  as  a  nation,  and  signed  by  George 
Washington. 


WAGES  SEEK  THEIR  LEVEL. 


55 


It  is  of  special  interest  in  this  connection  to  note  the 
progress  that  has  been  made  within  twenty-five  years  in 
the  increase  of  wages  and  in  the  cheapness  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  Mr.  Edw.  Atkinson  (already  quoted)  furnishes 
statistics  which  show  that  uthe  wages  of  mechanics  in 
Massachusetts  have  been  25  per  cent  more  in  1885  than  in 
1860,  while  the  purchasing  power  of  money  was  26  per  cent 
greater;  the  workman,  therefore,  could  either  raise  his 
standard  of  living,  or  on  the  same  standard  could  save  one- 
third  of  his  wages. "  It  follows  from  this  that  the  mechanic 
or  workman  of  1885  was  fifty-one  per  cent  better  oif  than 
the  mechanic  of  1860.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  capital 
in  money,  in  its  increase,  has  a  better  showing  than  the  cap- 
ital of  skill  and  brains,  during  the  same  period. 

Contrast  in  Populations.— If  American  employers  even 
wished  to  pay  wages  as  low  as  those  paid  in  Europe,  our 
sparse  population  would  forbid  it,  we  having  only,  it  is 
estimated,  20  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile,  in  contrast  with 
287  in  Great  Britain — in  England  proper  476 ;  in  France  133, 
and  in  Belgium  443.  Our  only  alternative  is  to  equalize 
the  cost  of  production  by  import  duties,  thus  enabling  us  to 
pay  our  workpeople  fair  wages,  or  else  reduce  the  latter  to 
the  same  level  with  those  paid  in  Europe.  We  do  not  ex- 
pect a  shrewd  American  capitalist  to  invest  his  money  in 
manufacturing  enterprises  in  which  he  would  pay  his 
workpeople  50  or  70  per  cent  higher  wages  than  his  Euro- 
pean rival ;  neither  do  we  expect  a  common-sense  American 
workman  to  invest  his  capital — his  brain,  his  skill  and  his 
muscle — and  for  return  receive  as  dividends  starvation 
wages. 

The  practical  application  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  "  exclu- 
sively^ or  for  revenue  only  "  theory,  has  almost  the  same 
disastrous  results  upon  the  mechanical  industries  of  the 
country  as  that  of  free  trade ;  though  the  former  produces 
revenue,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  ruining  the  wages  of  the 
workpeople.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  this  would  be  the 
result,  as  the  system  practically  treats  the  industrial  rights 


56 


OUB  TABIFR 


of  the  individual  citizen  as  subordinate  to  the  abstract 
money  interest  of  the  general  government. 

Employment  of  Females.— At  this  point  a  word  may  be  said 
in  relation  to  the  employment  and  the  remuneration  of  fe- 
males in  American  mills  producing  textile  fabrics.  Says  Mr. 
Joseph  Nimmo,  Jr.,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Wash- 
ington City,  and  an  authority  on  the  subject:  "The  wages 
we  pay  in  the  United  States  average  1.10  per  cent  higher 
than  that  paid  in  Scotland  for  identically  the  same  class  of 
work,  the  quality  of  the  work  being  similar.  The  causes  of 
this  great  difference  in  wages  are  in  the  very  high  compar- 
ative rates  paid  for  the  labor  of  females  in  the  United 
States."  In  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  administration  (1862)  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  employed  numbers 
of  women  as  counters  of  money,  clerks,  copyists,  etc.  They 
were  found  to  be  competent  for  that  class  of  work,  and  the 
system  extended  to  the  other  departments,  where  similar 
work  was  required.  At  the  close  of  Mr.  Arthur's  adminis- 
tration (March  3,  1885),  the  whole  number  of  women  em- 
ployed in  the  various  departments,  was  about  1600  of  whom 
700  were  in  the  Treasury.  According  to  the  grades  of  effi- 
ciency, their  salaries  ranged  from  720  to  1200  dollars  a  year. 
The  example  set  by  Secretary  Chase  has  had  great  influence, 
and  merchants,  bankers,  publishers,  etc.,  have  since  em- 
ployed increasing  numbers  of  women  in  such  clerical  service 
as  required  more  than  the  ordinary  education  that  is 
obtained  in  the  common  school. 

In  the  schedule  of  wages  paid  in  both  England  and  Scot- 
land, that  of  females  is  in  proportion  low  when  compared 
with  that  of  males,  and  much  more  so  when  compared 
with  that  of  their  own  sex  in  the  United  States.  For  this 
act  of  justice  and  kindly  feeling  toward  woman,  let  honor 
be  given  the  native  American  manufacturer. 

Kind  and  Unkind  Treatment.— It  has  been  the  custom 
since  the  introduction  of  manufacturing  on  a  large  scale 
into  this  country  for  the  native  American  employer  to  care 


WAGES  SEEK  THEIR  LEVEL. 


57 


for  the  comfort  and  the  morals  of  those  whom  he  employed, 
especially  females.  (Pattern's  Hist,  of  the  American  People, 
p.  712.)  Says  Mr.  R  P.  Porter,  when  speaking  of  the  girls 
coming  out  of  the  thread  mills  in  Paisley,  Scotland— Clark's 
and  Coates's:  "Most  of  them  were  warmly  clad,  none  had 
bonnets,  and  some  barefooted  tramped  through  the  cold 
slush,  yet  upon  the  whole  they  were  a  superior  class  of  girls 
to  those  I  had  seen  coming  out  of  the  mills  in  Manchester, 
England."  They  "would  not  compare  with  the  neatly 
dressed  girls,  with  shapely  American  shoes,  neat  hats,  tidy 
collars  or  ruching  round  the  neck,  with  umbrellas  in  rainy 
weather  and  sunshades  in  summer,  that  one  can  see  coming 
out  of  the  Merrimac  mills  at  Lowell,  or  Conant's  thread 
Mills  at  Pawtucket."  How  could  these  poor  girls  of  Paisley 
or  Manchester  dress  differently  or  live  comfortably  on 
starvation  wages?  Boarding  and  lodging  houses  under  such 
control  as  to  protect  the  girls  employed  in  the  mills*  and  as 
far  as  possible,  give  them  a  comfortable  home,  as  are  found 
in  Lowell  or  Willimantic,  are  in  Paisley  or  Manchester  un- 
known. The  same  authority  says  when  speaking  of  the 
linen  factories  of  Dundee,  Scotland,  in  which  great  numbers 
of  women  are  employed:  "The  operatives'  quarter  of  the 
city  contains  hundreds  of  houses  totally  unfit  for  human 
habitations.  They  are  low  gray  stone  buildings,  with  but 
one  room  on  a  floor,  and  windows  about  two  feet  square. 
Some  of  them  which  I  entered  fairly  reeked  with  filth,  and 
I  actually  found  in  some  whole  families  living  like  animals 
on  the  bare  ground."  These  examples  of  poverty  and  squal- 
idness  are  the  legitimate  results  of  low  wages,  and  belong 
more  to  the  general  rule  than  to  exceptions.  Neither  are 
these  terrible  and  degrading  effects  attributed  alone  to  the 
improvidence  and  idleness  of  those  employed,  for  the  eco- 
nomical and  industrious,  and  even  temperate,  can  at  best, 
under  such  circumstances,  live  only  from  hand  to  mouth, 
and  finally  for  the  most  part  end  their  days  in  the  poor- 
house. 

The  Contrast— Paisley  and  Willimantic.— In  contrast  with 


58 


OUR  TARIFF. 


the  facts  just  stated  in  respect  to  the  care  for  the  welfare 
and  comfort  of  the  workpeople  employed  in  the  thread  mills 
of  Coates  and  Clark  in  Paisley,  we  will  notice  the  manner 
in  which  persons  are  treated  who  are  employed  in  their 
great  rival  in  the  United  States—the  Willimantic  thread 
mills,  in  Connecticut.  How  marked  the  contrast  in  the 
character  of  the  houses  in  which  live  the  operatives  of  the 
Paisley  mills  with  the  dwellings  occupied  by  the  employes 
in  the  Willimantic !  The  latter  company  has  erected  nearly 
fifty  cottages  in  a  healthy  and  desirable  location,  to  be  oc- 
cupied at  reasonable  rents  by  the  families  of  those  employed 
in  the  mills.  These  cottages  are  of  several  styles  of  archi- 
tecture, and  are  generally  painted  in  neutral  colors  to 
please  the  eye ;  they  front  on  a  winding  road ;  each  one  has 
around  it  a  grass  or  garden  plot,  and  for  flowers  in  front. 
The  company  even  awards  prizes  for  the  best  of  the  latter, 
on  the  principle,  that  if  the  spinners  "  love  flowers  they  will 
make  better  thread,"  as  was  remarked  by  an  official  of  the 
corporation.  This  may  be  assumed  by  a  free- trade  casuist 
as  an  impure  motive ;  but  humanity  deems  it  certainly  bet- 
ter than  to  work  employes  at  "starvation  wages,"  and 
then  when  they  are  worn  out  provide  them  only  with  a 
pauper's  home.  Yet  a  Yale  College  Professor  of  Political 
feconomy — of  the  free-trade  type,  and  a  member  of  the 
Cobden  Club,  would  blot  this  all  out,  as  we  infer  from 
his  reported  aphorism  when  referring  to  "Willimantic:  "  We 
want  thread,  not  thread  mills." 

The  Workpeople's  Library  and  Recreation. — In  addition, 
these  employes  have  access  to  a  circulating  library,  to 
which  the  corporation  as  well  as  the  employes  contribute 
to  share  the  expense,  and  the  interest  which  the  latter  take 
in  the  books  of  the  library  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  among  them,  on  an  average,  are  in  use  at  the  same 
time  about  400  volumes.  These  advantages  are  fully  appre- 
ciated by  the  native-born  employes,  because  they  have 
learned  to  read  in  the  public  schools;  but  unfortunately 
not  so  by  the  multitude  of  foreigners,  who  have  not  enjoyed 


WAGES  SEEK  THEIR  LEVEL. 


59 


the  same  privileges ;  especially  can  this  be  said  of  those  who 
come  to  us  from  Canada  and  the  British  Isles. 

The  mills  run  sixty  hours  a  week,  but  it  is  so  arranged 
that  the  operatives  have  the  afternoon  <j)f  Saturday  to  them- 
selves—the odd  hours  being  distributed.  "  They  work  sixty 
hours  a  week,  but  not  ten  hours  each  day ;  for  five  days 
they  work  longer,  in  order  to  quit  at  quarter  past  one  o'clock 
on  Saturday,  and  thus  have  time  for  recreation."  Similar 
arrangements  for  the  comfort,  the  mental  and  moral  im- 
provement of  those  who  are  employed,  especially  in  our  1 
textile  factories,  are  not  unusual,  but  common,  throughout 
that  portion  of  the  Union  where  such  mills  exist.  For  illus- 
tration, the  Willimantic  Linen  Company,  of  the  same  vil- 
lage, decided  a  year  or  two  since  to  employ  only  those  who 
could  read  and  write ;  and  they  at  their  own  expense  estab- 
lished night  schools,  also  naming  a  certain  time  for  the 
illiterates  in  their  employ  to  remedy  the  defect.  The  direc- 
tors, however,  discriminated  in  respect  to  those  who  were 
too  advanced  in  years  to  learn,  but  were  strict  with  all 
others.  This  action  was  based  on  the  true  principle — the 
more  intelligent  the  workman  the  better  his  work. 

This  account  concerning  the  Willimantic  Mills  is  thus 
more  fully  given  as  a  type  of  the  usual  manner  in  which 
native-born  manufacturers,  for  the  most  part,  treat  those 
whom  they  employ.  Numerous  instances  to  that  effect 
could  be  further  adduced,  but  it  is  not  within  the  scope  of 
this  brief  book  to  treat  of  these  contrasts  but  in  very  general 
terms. 

John  Bright's  Lament.— In  this  connection,  let  us  listen  toj 
the  wail  of  an  extensive  manufacturer,  the  famous  liberal1 
English  statesman— John  Bright — than  whom  no  one  knew1 
better  of  what  he  spoke  concerning  the  condition  of  the' 
working  people  of  England  and  Scotland.  He  says  in  an 
address:  "We  find  poverty  and  misery.  What  does  it1 
mean,  when  all  these  families  are  living  in  homes  of  one 
room,  to  us  who  have  several  and  all  the  comforts  of  life  ? 
It  means  more  than  I  can  describe,  and  more  than  I  will 


60 


OUR  TARIFF. 


attempt  to  enter  into.  The  fact  is,  there  passes  before  my 
eyes  a  vision  of  millions  of  families — not  individuals,  but 
families — fathers,  mothers,  passing  ghastly,  sorrow-stricken, 
in  never-ending  procession  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave." 
To  a  similar  condition  of  poverty,  induced  by  low  wages, 
the  workpeople  of  the  United  States  are  invited  by  their 
injudicious  friends,  the  H  for-revenue-only  or  exclusively  for 
public  purposes,"  and  their  zealous  allies  at  the  ballot-box — 
the  free-traders.  As  low  wages  have  been  so  long  estab- 
lished in  Europe  and  are  not  likely  to  change  for  the  better, 
we  must  adapt  our  policy  to  counteract  this  bad  influence, 
and  not  depend  upon  European  employers  to  adopt  our 
more  liberal  system  of  paying  living  wages.  We  must  take 
the  facts  as  they  are ;  the  poverty  and  distress  among  the 
operatives  of  Europe  are  for  the  most  part  the  outgrowth  of 
low  wages,  crushing  the  hopes  and  obliterating  the  self- 
respect  of  the  workpeople.  These  immense  evils  genuine 
and  humane  statesmen  wish  to  ward  off  from  the  working 
classes  in  the  United  States. 


BUY  WHERE  YOU  CAN  PAY  EASIEST.  61 


XL 

Buy  Where  You  Can  Pay  Easiest. 

A  favorite  maxim— originating  with  Richard  Cobden — 
of  the  advocates  of  "  for  revenue  only  or  exclusively,"  has 
often  deceived  American  workingmen;  it  is,  "Buy  where 
you  can  buy  cheapest,  and  sell  where  you  can  sell  dearest." 
This  is  a  nicely-turned  phrase,  but,  unfortunately  for  its 
application,  it  is  never  true  or  available  to  any  extent  when 
applied  to  workingmen,  who,  instead  of  having  a  surplus  of 
money  on  hand  to  make  purchases,  have  to  earn  it  as  needed 
by  their  own  labor.  The  aphorism  ought  to  be  Buy  where 
you  can  pay  easiest.  An  article  may  be  cheap  in  its  nomi- 
*  nal  price,  but  dear  under  certain  conditions.  If  a  working- 
man  wishes  to  rent  a  house  for  his  family,  and  contracts  to 
pay  for  it  by  his  labor,  it  is  cheaper  for  him,  as  he  can  pay 
his  rent  easier  than  if  it  was  nominally  at  a  lower  rate, 
when  he  runs  the  risk  of  obtaining  the  means  by  employ- 
ment elsewhere.  He  pays  easily  and  surely  by  selling  his 
labor  by  contract,  the  latter  being  his  only  article  to  ex- 
-  change  for  his  rent.  This  principle  holds  good  in  respect  to 
the  supplies  he  may  buy  for  his  family.  Now,  where  can  he 
sell  his  labor  ?  He  certainly  cannot  sell  it  in  Europe ;  he 
must  sell  it  here,  if  anywhere,  but  he  cannot  sell  it  here 
unless  he  has  the  opportunity  to  secure  employment,  and,  if 
our  industries  are  crippled  or  our  factories  closed,  he  will 
have  to  sell  it  at  a  low  rate  in  the  first  instance,  and  not  at 
all  in  the  second. 

The  advocates  just  mentioned,  whose  theories  on  the  gen- 
eral subject  would  bring  about  this  state  of  uncertainty, 
attempt  to  console  the  working  people  by  asserting  that  they 
could  buy  foreign  goods  much  cheaper  if  very  low  or  no 
duties  were  imposed  upon  them.   This  statement  we  do  not 


62 


OUR  TARIFF. 


accept  as  true,  because  other  considerations  prove  it  to  be 
untrue.  These  gentlemen  fail  to  show  the  workmen  how 
they  would  be  able  to  purchase  articles  made  abroad,  if  they 
themselves  have  little  employment  and  consequently  little 
money. 

Workingmen's  Views.— The  intelligent  and  industrious 
mechanic  prefers  to  have  good  wages,  and  even  pay  higher 
for  what  he  needs — very  little  of  which  comes  from  foreign 
lands.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  facts  on  this  point,  exten- 
sive inquiries  have  been  made  in  New  York  City  of  temper- 
ate and  industrious  mechanics  or  workingmen  who  gain 
their  living  by  wages ;  their  answers  confirm  this  statement. 
To  the  question  how  much  of  their  money  goes  to  purchase 
foreign-made  articles  for  their  families,  the  reply  has  uni- 
formly been,  scarcely  any — some  say  not  one  dollar  in  thirty, 
and  some  not  one  in  fifty.  This  appears  more  clearly  if  we 
look  at  particulars.  His  house  rent,  the  daily  food  of  his 
family,  are  home  productions,  and  ninety-nine  hundredths  * 
of  his  wearing  apparel  are  made  by  his  neighbors— other 
American  workmen.  The  linen  in  his  shirt  bosom  may 
come  from  abroad,  and  so  does  his  tea  and  coffee ;  but  the 
Eepublicans  in  Congress  took  the  duty  off  both  these  in 
1872;  yet,  unfortunately,  in  respect  to  coffee,  the  Emperor 
of  Brazil,  Dom  Pedro,  immediately  put  the  same  amount  as 
a  tax  or  export  duty  on  the  coffee  sent  from  his  dominions. 
The  result  is,  we  derive  no  benefit  from  removing  that  duty. 
The  author  of  "  Free  Land  and  Free  Trade" — by  the  way  a 
member  of  the  Cobden  Club— thinks  there  ought  to  be  a 
tariff  on  tea  and  coffee,  because  we  do  not  produce  them. 
Is  he  willing  to  put  a  tax  on  that  which  we  cannot  produce, 
but  not  on  the  article  of  foreign  manufacture  that  comes  in 
competition  with  that  which  we  can  make  ourselves  ? 

Higher  Wages— Higher  Prices. — If  the  goods  that  we  ought 
to  manufacture  are  made  abroad,  just  to  that  amount  is 
employment  taken  from  our  people.  Let  these  advocates— 
the  latter's  professed  friends— persuade  the  workingmen  to 


BUY  WHEBE  YOU  CAN  PAY  EASIEST.  63 


follow  their  lead,  and  vote  to  cripple  indirectly  the  mechani- 
cal industries  of  the  country,  and  either  throw  themselves 
out  of  employment  or  lower  their  own  wages.  The  argu- 
ments on  the  cheapness  of  foreign  products  have  very  little 
force,  if  the  laboring  man  or  mechanic  has  not  the  means  of 
earning  the  money  wherewith  to  purchase  them.  It  is 
financially  better  for  those  employed  to  receive  the  higher 
rate  of  wages,  and  pay  higher  for  what  they  need,  than  to 
have  low  wages  and  buy  at  a  lower  rate.  Because  of  the 
higher  wages  received  in  the  United  States  they  are  pre- 
sumed to  earn  more  than  they  expend,  and  in  that  case 
their  income  or  dividend  will  be  enhanced  in  a  greater  pro- 
portion. It  is  a  well-ascertained  fact  that  such  is  the  result 
in  respect  to  those  workmen  who  are  industrious,  economi- 
cal, and  temperate,  and  that  the  idle,  the  improvident,  and 
the  intemperate  are  the  ones  that  are  mostly  found  in 
financial  straits. 

Savings  Banks. — In  this  connection  we  cite  the  case  of  the 
savings  banks  in  Massachusetts,  because  in  that  State  the 
proportion  of  those  who  work  for  wages,  we  presume,  is 
greater  than  in  any  other  in  the  Union,  and  likewise  this 
State  collects  for  the  use  of  the  people  accurate  information 
from  year  to  year,  both  in  respect  to  labor  and  wages. 
These  carefully  prepared  statistics  show  that  in  1865  the 
amount  in  savings  banks  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child 
was  $47.29 ;  and  twenty  years  afterward,  in  1885,  the  amount 
was  for  each  $141.64,  lacking  only  a  few  cents  of  being  three 
times  as  much.  Yet  our  free-trade  or  for-revenue-only 
friends  never  weary  of  proclaiming  their  favorite  aphorism 
that  uthe  rich  are  growing  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer," 
but,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  presence  of  these  facts,  "is  it 
not  true,  that  while  the  rich  may  have  become  no  poorer,  the 
poor  have  been  steadily  growing  richer  ?"  The  commission- 
ers of  savings  banks  estimate  that  at  least  three-fourths  of 
the  moneys  thus  deposited  are  by  those  who  work  for  wages. 
This  estimate  is  made  in  relation  to  the  working  people  of 
New  England  and  the  Northern  Middle  States. 


64 


QUE  TABIFF. 


XII. 

Successful  Industries  Benefit  All  the  Workpeople. 

The  workingman  neither  needs  nor  buys  much  of  the 
kind  of  goods  he  himself  aids  in  making.  Suppose  the 
father  works  in  a  cotton  mill ;  how  much  of  his  wages  goes 
to  buy  cotton  cloth  or  prints  for  his  family,  when  compared 
with  the  amount  he  expends  in  house  rent,  food,  and  other 
necessaries?  The  same  principle  applies  to  the  man  who 
works  in  a  woolen  mill,  a  hat  factory,  or  an  iron  foundry. 
The  ratio  of  the  expense  is  about  the  same  for  the  amount 
of  what  each  needs  of  the  articles  he  or  she  aids  in  produc- 
ing. This  principle  pervades  the  whole  field  of  mechanical 
industry  and  pertains  to  all  those  who  labor  for  wages  in 
factories.  The  women  who  work  in  silk  mills  in  Paterson, 
New  Jersey,  or  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  may  buy  for  them- 
selves silk  ribbons,  but  very  few  of  them  purchase  silk 
dresses  made  at  these  mills,  because  of  the  expense. 

Mutual  Interests.— The  worker  in  iron  cannot  afford  that 
the  hatter  should  give  up  making  hats  that  he,  the  former, 
according  to  the  theory,  should  be  able  to  buy  a  hat  a  little 
cheaper  because  on  it  there  was  no  duty.  Neither  can  the 
cotton  spinner  or  weaver  afford  that  the  woolen  mill  should 
stop  work  that  he  might  buy  a  suit  of  woolen  clothes  a 
dollar  or  two  cheaper.  It  is  for  the  advantage  of  those  em- 
ployed in  mechanical  industries  that  the  same  should  be 
diversified,  and  all  be  successful.  If  one  industry  fails  or 
ceases  to  exist,  the  injurious  effect  is  felt  by  the  employes 
in  all  the  others,  because  the  workmen  thus  thrown  out  of 
employment  cannot  afford  to  have  their  capital — their  skill 
and  their  muscle— he  idle,  and  they  soon  begin  work  in 


SUCCESSFUL  INDUSTRIES  BENEFIT  WORKPEOPLE.  65 


some  other  industrial  pursuit.  The  result  is  the  latter  be- 
comes crowded  with  workmen,  and  in  consequence  the 
wages  of  those  originally  employed  are  lowered.  In  a 
money  point  of  view,  it  is  clearly  more  advantageous  for 
working  people  to  have  good  wages,  and  even  pay  higher 
for  what  they  need,  than  to  be  restricted  in  supplying  their 
wants  or  comfort3  because  their  incomes  are  so  limited. 
This  supposition  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  those  who 
labor  are  industrious,  temperate,  and  economical,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year  have  a  surplus,  unless  an  unlooked-for 
misfortune  befalls  them.  The  idle  and  the  spendthrifts,  or 
those  who  waste  their  time  and  money  in  drinking-saloons, 
would  of  course  always  be  in  financial  difficulties.  Will  not 
American  workingmen— skillful  mechanics  and  ordinary 
laborers— read  and  think  for  themselves  on  this  subject, 
and  be  thus  able  to  recognize  that  the  interests  of  those  who 
work  for  wages  and  of  those  who  furnish  the  capital  that 
gives  the  latter  employment,  are  mutual?  Let  both  classes 
of  capitalists  act  together  harmoniously  and  vote  intelli- 
gently, so  as  to  prevent  adverse  legislation,  and  thus  secure 
good  dividends — the  one  class  by  having  their  money  profit- 
ably invested,  and  the  other  by  having  abundant  employ- 
ment at  fair  wages. 

Home  Competition. — Our  statesmen  of  the  lukewarm  or 
half  free-trade  school  in  times  past  often  took  measures  to 
lower  the  tariffs  that  equalized  the  cost  of  production  just 
enough  to  make  the  competition  between  the  American  and 
foreign  manufacturer,  instead  of  so  legislating  as  to  induce 
others  on  our  own  soil  to  enter  upon  the  business,  and  thus 
secure  two  objects— employment  for  our  own  working  peo- 
ple and  at  the  same  time  cheapening  the  manufactured 
article  by  means  of  home  competition.  When  the  American 
people  entered  upon  the  policy  of  doing  their  own  manufac- 
turing, it  was  supposed  they  could  do  no  more  than  supply 
their  own  wants ;  but  their  mechanical  industries  advanced 
so  rapidly  in  consequence  of  the  discreet  management  of 
capital,  and  the  intelligence  and  industrious  habits  of  the 
5 


66 


OUR  TARIFF. 


operatives,  together  with  the  aid  of  native  inventions,  that 
in  many  classes  of  goods  they  began  to  compete  with  the 
manufacturers  of  Europe  in  their  own  as  well  as  in  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world.  This  competition  received  a  great  im- 
pulse because  of  the  Centennial  Exposition  (1876),  which  for 
the  first  time  afforded  an  extensive  comparison  of  American 
skill  with  that  of  other  nations.  Another  secret  of  this  suc- 
cess is  also  found  in  the  fact  that  our  industries  have  been 
virtually  untrammeled  since  1862,  though  often  threatened 
by  adverse  legislation.  True  statesmanship  is  willing  to 
let  well  alone,  and  by  judicious  measures  promote  our  own 
mechanical  industries,  that  by  means  of  their  products  sent 
abroad  our  merchants  may  oftener  have  the  balance  of 
trade  in  their  favor.  On  the  contrary,  any  influence  that 
would  cripple  these  industries  would  also  retard  this  expor- 
tation. 

The  Balance  of  Trade. — Our  industrial  and  commercial 
history  proves  that  we  always  have  had  the  balance  of  trade 
against  us — that  is,  imported  more  in  value  than  we  ex- 
ported— whenever  we  did  not  have  a  tariff  sufficiently  high 
to  equalize  the  cost  of  production.  This  difference  in  value, 
of  course,  had  to  be  paid  the  foreign  manufacturer  in  gold 
or  silver.  Our  first  experience  in  this  line  was  during  the 
period — about  eight  years — between  the  treaty  of  peace  at 
the  close  of  the  Eevolution  and  the  passage  of  our  first  Na- 
tional tariff  bill,  signed  by  George  Washington  in  1790. 
During  this  time  the  balance  of  trade  was  against  us,  when, 
according  to  Bolles  (p.  9),  in  his  Financial  History  of  the 
United  States,  "  every  piece  of  gold  and  silver  was  swept 
from  the  land  in  paying  for  English  manufactured  goods." 

Our  second  experience  was  in  1837,  during  the  reign  of 
the  famous  Compromise  Tariff  of  1833.  According  to  this 
tariff  it  was  calculated  that  an  annual  reduction  of  one- 
tenth  per  cent  of  the  current  import  duties  would  reach  in 
1842  a  uniform  or  horizontal  rate  of  twenty  per  cent  on  all 
classes  of  imported  goods,  but  the  balance  of  trade  increased 
against  us  so  rapidly  that  the  crash  came  in  1837,  five  years 


SUCCESSFUL  INDUSTRIES  BENEFIT  WORKPEOPLE.  67 


before  the  designated  time.  The  balance  against  us  amounted 
to  $150,000,000.  Twenty  years  later,  1857,  we  had  our  third 
experience,  when  the  amount  against  us  was  $335,000,000. 
This  was  the  result  of  the  semi-free-trade  tariff  of  1846. 

The  fourth  instance  in  which  the  balance  of  trade  was 
against  us  was  in  1873,  when  it  amounted  to  the  unprece- 
dented sum  of  $1,000,000,000.  The  conditions  under  which 
this  happened  were  peculiar.  In  the  first  place,  we  had  a 
tariff  sufficiently  high  to  be  protective,  but  there  were  other 
influences  at  work.  Owing  to  the  immense  outlay  of  money 
in  the  then  existing  war,  the  government  was  under  the 
necessity,  in  addition  to  the  tariff,  of  levying  an  internal 
tax,  which  reached  almost  every  variety  of  manufactured 
goods,  among  which  were  those  that  came  in  competition 
with  the  foreign  made.  The  result  was  that  the  home-made 
article  was  taxed  to  such  an  extent  as  to  neutralize  the  im- 
port duty  as  a  protection.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
foreigner,  having  the  advantage  of  paying  lower  wages, 
could  pay  these  import  duties,  and  then  be  able  to  under- 
sell the  native  manufacturer  in  his  own  market,  because  of 
the  internal  tax  which  the  latter  paid.  This  state  of  things, 
together  44  with  the  speculation  and  over-production  incited 
by  the  inflated  currency  of  the  ten  previous  years,"  brought 
about  the  crash  of  1873.  Congress  retrieved  the  Nation's 
affairs  by  removing  the  internal  tax,  especially  on  those 
articles  with  which  the  foreigner  competed,  but  let  the 
tariff  on  imports  remain,  and  within  about  three  years  the 
$1,000,000,000  of  foreign  debt  disappeared,  and  the  balance 
of  trade  turned  in  our  favor,  and  to  such  an  extent  that  in 
nine  years  (1876-1885)  it  amounted  altogether  to  $1,447,000,- 
000,  an  average  annual  credit  balance  in  our  favor  of  $161,- 
000,000. 

Effects  of  High  and  Low  Tariffs.— Low  tariffs  with  us  in- 
duce a  large  importation  of  common  articles,  which  we  can 
make  ourselves,  and  thus  they  interfere  adversely  with  the 
incomes  of  our  workpeople  by  limiting  them  in  their  em- 
ployment, while  a  tariff  proportionately  high  on  high-priced 


68 


OUR  TARIFF. 


goods,  which  require  much  skill  and  labor  to  make,  induces 
a  comparatively  limited  importation ;  but  that  high  duty  is 
paid  by  the  wealthy,  while  at  the  same  time  it  incidentally 
benefits  the  workpeople  who  may  be  employed  in  produc- 
ing the  lower  grades  of  the  same  kind  of  goods.  In  this 
manner  an  equalizing  or  protective  tariff,  as  generally  un- 
derstood— for  illustration,  such  as  the  one  imposed  on  manu- 
factured silk  goods  of  high  grades— makes  compensation, 
inasmuch  as  it  gives,  incidentally,  remunerative  employ- 
ment to  our  own  people,  creates  incomes  from  capital  in- 
vested in  the  form  of  money,  while  the  recipients  of  the 
latter  can  afford  to  purchase  the  foreign  high-priced  articles, 
and  thus  bring  an  abundance  of  revenue  to  the  National 
treasury,  the  benefit  arising  from  which  accrues  to  the 
people  at  large. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  OUR  RESOURCES.  69 


Development  of  Our  Resources. 

Enlightened  and  judicious  statesmanship  is  slow  to  act, 
but  careful  to  devise  measures  that  are  adapted  to  develop 
and  make  available  the  resources  of  the  entire  country, 
and  at  the  same  time  give  employment  to  that  class— by  far 
the  largest  in  the  community — who  work  for  wages.  To 
thus  harmonize  mutual  interests  is  one  of  the  highest  ac- 
complishments of  genuine  statesmen,  those  who  labor  for 
the  welfare  of  the  greatest  number,  but  not  at  the  expense 
of  the  smallest,  and  so  combine  measures  that  the  benefits 
arising  from  such  combination  may  accrue  equally  to  both 
parties — those  employed  and  those  employing.  In  order  to 
secure  success,  it  is  essential  that  this  policy  should  be  uni- 
form. Up  to  1862  there  was  no  greater  detriment  to  Ameri- 
can improvement  and  success  in  mechanical  industries  than 
the  frequent  and  injudicious  changes  made  during  that  pe- 
riod by  Congress  in  relation  to  duties  levied  on  foreign 
manufactured  articles  that  came  directly  in  competition 
with  the  same  class  made  here,  and  indirectly  interfered 
with  the  employment  of  the  laboring  classes. 

Harmony  Needed.— Now  is  the  time  for  the  statesmanship 
of  the  whole  Union  to  act  in  harmony  in  respect  to  the 
development  of  all  our  natural  resources.  The  former  slave- 
labor  States  can  have  diversities  of  industries  if  they  wish ; 
there  is  no  impediment  in  the  way  of  their  being  successful 
in  manufacturing  that  cannot  in  time  be  overcome.  Let 
them  make  strenuous  efforts  by  means  of  schools,  public 
and  private,  to  give  a  sufficient  amount  of  education  to  all 
classes  of  the  community,  that  they  can  be  able  to  work 


70 


OUR  TARIFF. 


intelligently  in  whatever  employment  they  may  engage. 
These  States  have  abundant  water-power  in  certain  districts ; 
they  have  vast  deposits  of  coal  and  iron  ore ;  they  have  a 
large  population,  white  and  colored,  that  could  be  trained 
to  perform  all  that  is  required  in  manufacturing  establish- 
ments. In  addition,  they  have  a  climate  and  a  soil  so  com- 
bined as  to  give  them,  virtually,  the  monopoly  of  the  world 
in  raising  cotton,  which  cannot  be  said  of  the  agricultural 
products  of  the  West  and  Northwest.  In  process  of  time 
the  people  of  the  South  who  labor  for  wages  could  improve 
their  skill  in  working  in  mechanical  industries,  as  the  same 
class  has  been  doing  in  the  North  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury. These  considerations  ought  to  introduce  into  the 
South  a  diversity  of  industrial  pursuits  wherever  there  are 
facilities  for  the  purpose.  In  addition,  it  may  be  noted  as  an 
essential  element  of  success  that  the  laboring  class  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  must  be  intelligent,  and  the  people  of  the  South 
must  train  the  rising  generation  in  their  common  schools. 
The  unparalleled  success  in  the  early  stages  of  manufactur 
ing  in  New  England  can  be  traced  fully  as  much  to  the  in- 
telligence of  the  young  people  who  then  worked  in  the 
mills  as  to  the  careful  supervision  of  the  managers. 

The  Misleading  Term.— Our  free -trade  or  for -revenue- 
only  friends  often  make  the  charge  of  monopoly  against 
those  who  employ  others— it  may  be  manufacturers  or  rail- 
way corporations.  The  charge  thus  made  often  misleads 
those  who  unfortunately  have  not  the  opportunity,  or  it 
may  be  the  necessary  information,  to  investigate  and  detect 
the  fallacy  involved.  There  can  be  no  monopoly  when  all 
are  at  liberty  to  enter  upon  the  same  business.  "  Every 
American  has  an  equal  right  to  engage  in  and  pursue  any 
lawful  business  or  manufacture  in  any  part  of  the  country 
without  preference  or  favor."  There  may  be  isolated  cases 
wherein  the  word  might  be  applied,  but  they  are  compara- 
tively very  few,  and  such  monopolies  are  soon  brought  to 
terms  by  competition ;  the  mischief  done  consists  more  in 
exciting  prejudice  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  fit  subjects 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  OUR  RESOURCES.  71 


to  be  influenced  for  political  purposes.  No  one  thinks  of 
charging  the  farmer  or  the  captain  of  a  ship  with  being  a 
monopolist,  because  any  one  who  owns  a  farm  or  a  ship  can 
enter  upon  the  business.  Can  the  farmer  command  the 
sunshine  and  the  rain  for  his  crops  alone?  or  can  the  captain 
secure  for  his  ship  alone  the  winds  that  are  abroad  upon  the 
ocean?  Neither  can  a  manufacturer  continue  to  monopolize 
the  making  of  a  certain  class  of  goods ;  the  same  may  be  said 
of  railways  running  in  the  same  direction.  When  all  are 
at  liberty  to  compete,  these  apparent  monopolies  regulate 
themselves  by  means  of  the  laws  of  trade,  which  are  more 
sure  in  their  operation,  and  in  the  long  run  never  infringe 
on  individual  rights,  as  legislation  sometimes  does.  Be- 
tween the  people  of  the  different  States  of  the  Union  exists 
the  monopoly  of  free  trade,  the  most  extensive  and  complete 
in  the  world,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which  mutual  benefits 
accrue  to  our  own  people,  while  the  tariff  operates  only  on 
certain  foreign  products,  so  as  to  compel  them,  as  property, 
to  bear  their  share  of  the  Nation's  expense.  These  foreign 
products  pay  this  tax  before  they  can  enter  the  free-trade 
markets  within  the  States.  A  system  thus  guarding  mate- 
rial interests  makes  our  Nation  in  many  respects  independent 
of  the  rest  of  the  world — a  sort  of  monopolist  in  having 
within  itself  that  which  is  essential  to  its  own  success  and 
general  advancement. 


72  OUR  TARIFF. 


XIV. 

English  Efforts  to  Ruin  American  Manufactures. 

The  American  manufacturers  have  their  most  formida- 
ble antagonists  in  their  English  brethren,  as  the  latter  are 
engaged  more  especially  in  producing  articles  which  come 
into  common  use,  such  as  are  made  from  cotton,  and  flax, 
and  wool,  while  in  the  field  of  the  metals,  such  as  tin,  cop- 
per, iron,  and  steel,  in  all  the  latter's  appliances  from  the 
delicate  needle  to  the  massive  iron  steamship.  On  the 
other  hand  the  Americans'  principal  rivals  on  the  Continent 
are  the  French  and  Italians  in  their  silks  and  the  Belgians 
in  their  fine  cloths.  These  latter  products,  however,  are 
insignificant  in  their  commercial  value,  when  compared 
with  that  of  England's  more  useful  and  important  ones. 
The  English  government  by  an  astute  and  comprehensive 
system  of  efficient  tariffs  and  bounties,  applied  in  various 
forms  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  built 
up  a  series  of  industries,  and  in  so  doing,  she  acquired 
a  power  in  the  skill  and  number  of  her  employes  that  en- 
abled her  to  compete  triumphantly  with  all  the  world  be- 
side. Under  these  conditions  she  became  able  in  the  pro- 
cess of  time  to  throw  open  her  ports  to  free  trade  in  the 
raw  material  and  otherwise,  as  no  nation  could  compete 
with  her  in  the  low  wages  she  paid,  and  in  the  skill  ac- 
quired by  her  workpeople.  Within  the  last  thirty  or 
forty  years  she  has  found  it  for  her  interest  to  enter  upon 
a  new  phase  of  free  trade  in  obtaining  one  of  her  most  im- 
portant raw  materials — that  of  food  for  her  operatives — 
fully  as  necessary  as  cotton  for  her  mills  or  iron  ore  for  her 
furnaces. 


ENGLISH  EFFORTS  TO  RUIN  OUR  MANUFACTURES  73 


The  Unique  History. — Before  we  give  an  account  of  Eng- 
land's present  attitude  toward  us  as  rivals  in  the  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  world,  let  us  trace  very  briefly  the 
history  of  that  opposition,  which  arose  soon  after  we  became 
a  Nation,  and  has  continued  till  this  honr.  While  in  gen- 
eral terms,  between  the  English  people  and  the  American, 
there  has  always  been  a  friendly  feeling,  the  outgrowth  of 
having  the  same  origin,  the  same  language  and  literature, 
and  the  same  traditions,  and  withal  a  genuine  sympathy 
with  true  liberty,  both  civil  and  religious,  yet  on  the  part 
of  the  money-makers  of  England,  even  before  we  were 
rivals  to  be  feared,  there  was  a  latent  hostility,  arising  per- 
haps from  the  unconscious  influence  of  the  love  of  gain  or 
rather  on  the  vulgar  basis  that  ''business  is  business,"  to 
which  all  other  considerations  must  be  held  subordinate. 
England  was  an  oppressor  of  the  trade  and  mechanical  in- 
dustries of  the  American  colonists,  and  only  encouraged 
them  in  producing  the  raw  material.  This  feeling  passed 
over  from  colonial  times,  and  was  plainly  evident  in  the 
generation  immediately  succeeding  that  period. 

Lord  Brougham's  Suggestions. — In  accordance  with  this 
policy  of  crushing  industrial  and  commercial  rivals,  which 
the  Americans  were  about  to  become,  Lord  Brougham,  in 
his  place  in  Parliament  after  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  was 
signed,  announced  that  "  it  was  well  worth  while  to  incur 
a  loss  upon  the  first  exportation  of  goods  in  order  by  the 
glut  to  stifle  in  the  cradle  those  rising  manufactures  in  the 
United  States  which  the  war  [that  of  1812]  had  forced  into 
existence,  contrary  to  the  nature  of  things."  (Hansard's 
Pari.  Debates,  1st  Series  xxxiii.,  p.  1099.)  The  phrase  4  4  the 
nature  of  things"  evidently  means  that  England  ought  to 
be  the  workshop  of  the  world,  which  pre-eminence  she  had 
been  aiming  to  attain,  and  for  which  she  still  is  struggling. 
The  interest  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  take  in 
this  quotation  is  the  fact  that  the  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers of  England,  when  opportunity  served,  have  followed 
from  that  day  to  this  the  advice  therein  given.   They  at 


OUR  TARIFF. 


that  time  flooded  the  United  States  with  goods  at  a  very 
low  rate,  often  below  cost,  and  effectually  stifled  our  domes- 
tic manufactures  that  had  thus  come  into  existence,  at  the 
same  time  ■  threw  out  of  employment  multitudes  of  work- 
people, and  forced  the  limited  capital  of  the  country  to  lie 
idle.  This  state  of  affairs  remained  until  an  impulse  was 
given  to  mechanical  industries  by  the  Tariff  of  1816,  and  the 
years  following.  We  learn  incidentally  that  this  crip- 
pling policy  was  afterward  quietly  carried  out;  for  illus- 
tration, a  Parliamentary  commission  in  1854,  spoke  of  the 
losses  their  manufacturers  sustained  "  in  order  to  destroy 
foreign  competition  and  to  gain  and  keep  possession  of  for- 
eign  markets."  Thus  "to  overwhelm  all  foreign  competi- 
tion" and  then  u  step  in  for  the  whole  trade  when  prices 
revive. "  Again,  Lord  Goderich  announced  in  the  House  of 
Lords  that  the  English  meant  by  the  advantages  of  free 
trade  "  to  get  the  monopoly  of  all  their  (other  nations)  mar- 
kets for  our  manufactures,  and  to  prevent  them,  one  and 
all,  from  ever  becoming  manufacturing  nations"  (Address 
of  Mr.  Dexter  A.  Hawkins,  p.  49.) 

Illustrations  how  the  same  ends  are  attained  by  com- 
binations of  manufacturers  and  merchants  sometimes  come 
to  light.  Before  the  civil  war  one  of  the  largest  establish- 
ments in  England  for  rolling  iron  had  an  agency  in  the 
City  of  Boston.  The  duties  on  railroad  iron  at  that  time — 
under  the  tariff  of  1846 — were  quite  low,  and  our  railways 
were  supplied  partly  from  domestic  mills  and  partly  from 
those  in  England.  The  latter  firms  systematically  kept 
lowering  their  prices  from  time  to  time.  Meanwhile,  the 
American  mills,  the  weaker  first,  but  one  by  one,  were  com- 
pelled to  shut  down.  These  successive  failures  were  duly 
noted,  and  when  the  last  one  succumbed,  *the  news  was  sent 
to  England,  and  with  it  also  the  statement  "  that  there  was 
no  longer  any  danger  from  American  competition."  The 
reply  immediately  came  back,  "  Advance  prices."  The  ad- 
vancing process  was  commenced,  and  in  less  than  a  year 
the  price  of  English  rails  to  American  consumers  was  in- 
creased about  100  per  cent.  (American  Protectionists1 
Manual,  p.  68.) 


ENGLISH  EFFOBTS  TO  BUIN  QUE  MANUFACTURES.  75 

The  English  merchants  and  manufacturers  have  never 
deviated  in  their  intercourse  with  other  nations  from  this 
line  of  policy ;  it  crops  out  all  along  their  history.  In  con- 
nection with  this  underlying  principle  is  her  effort  to  limit 
other  nations  to  the  single  industry  of  supplying  her  with 
the  raw  material,  knowing  well  that  in  the  ultimate  cost  of 
the  manufactured  article,  the  raw  material  is  only  about  10 
or  15  per  cent,  the  remainder  of  the  cost,  90  or  85  per  cent, 
accrues  with  the  profit  to  the  employed  and  the  capitalist, 
and  especially  to  the  latter  if  the  wages  are  low.  Nations 
in  their  intercourse  with  each  other  seem  to  ignore  the 
Golden  Eule,  and  in  relation  to  this  policy  of  our  great  rival 
we  must  be  on  our  guard. 

The  Mode  of  Operations.— England's  great  rival  to-day  in 
mechanical  industries  is  the  United  States,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  in  self-defence  her  manufacturers  should  form 
associations  whose  object  is  to  influence  public  opinion 
among  us  on  the  subject  of  tariffs  and  free  trade.  This  is 
to  be  accomplished  "  by  subsidizing  certain  of  the  press  (in 
the  United  States),  by  employing  lecturers,  and  paying 
writers,  by  circulating  tracts,"  etc.  We  do  not  find  fault 
with  this  mode  of  procedure ;  let  the  subject  be  fully  dis- 
cussed, and  give  the  American  people  all  the/acfs,  not  failing 
to  show  their  legitimate  influence ;  let  the  voters  have  op- 
portunity to  judge  for  themselves  and  pronounce  their  own 
decision  through  the  medium  of  the  ballot-box.  Some  of 
our  professors  of  political  economy  can  furnish  the  theories 
— they  may  be  somewhat  difficult  to  reduce  to  practice— but 
by  all  means  let  our  workpeople  hear  both  sides. 

Reasons  for  Alarm. — It  is  not  strange  that  English  manu- 
facturers should  be  alarmed  at  our  industrial  progress.  A 
writer  quotes  the  London  Quarterly  as  saying:  "The  com- 
petition of  the  United  States  is  certainly  real.  It  has  not 
only  virtually  deprived  us  of  its  50,000,000  of  people  as 
customers,  but  it  threatens  us  with  permanent  active  rivalry 
in  outside  markets.   Their  imports  of  cotton  goods  have 


76 


OUR  TARIFF. 


steadily  declined  from  227,000,000  yards  in  1860,  to  23,000,000 
in  1881,  while  the  American  exports  of  cotton  goods  in  the 
latter  year  reached  nearly  150, 000, 000  yards. "  The  23, 000, 000 
yards  imported  in  1881  were  evidently  of  the  very  finest 
texture,  which  the  American  mills  are  as  yet  unable  to 
make  to  advantage ;  though  they  produce  ordinary  cotton 
goods  of  such  excellent  character,  "that  certain  home- 
trade  houses  in  England  frequently  call  English  cloth 
American,  and  stamp  it  with  the  names  and  trade-marks  of 
certain  American  mills." 

Mr.  Thorneley's  Report.— One  of  the  associations  men- 
tioned above,  in  1879,  sent  an  expert,  Mr.  James  Thorneley, 
to  this  country  to  investigate  our  cotton  manufactures.  He 
reported/ 'that  the  people  in  America  work  longer  than  in 
England,  they  taking  fewer  holidays ;  that  drunkenness  is 
less  common  than  in  England,  and  the  earnings  of  the  work- 
ing classes  are  spent  in  providing  for  their  wants,  and  what 
they  do  not  require  for  this  purpose  is  invested,  instead  of 
being  frittered  away  in  vain  attempts  to  raise  wages  to  an 
unnatural  level  by  means  of  trade  unions."  This  was  eight 
years  ago.  Could  this  be  said  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
American  working  people  disposed  of  their  "  earnings ,"  if 
their  wages  were  so  low  that  they  were  compelled  to  live 
from  hand  to  mouth,  as  do  the  English  operatives  ?  He 
continues,  "the  food-producing  districts  of  the  world  are 
nearer  to  the  American  than  to  the  English  manufactories, 
and  the  necessaries  of  life  are  therefore  cheaper." 

Sympathy  for  the  Rebellion. — It  may  be  remarked  in  this 
connection  that  one  of  the  elements  in  the  hostility  mani- 
fested during  the  late  rebellion  toward  the  free-labor  States, 
by  the  great  majority  of  the  merchants  and  manufacturers 
or  Great  Britain  was  the  expectation  that  the  Confederates 
— they  being  for  the  most  part  composed  of  the  Southern 
wing  of  the  Democratic  party— would,  if  successful,  adopt 
free  trade  as  their  policy. 


ENGLISH  EFFORTS  TO  RUIN  OUR  MANUFACTURES.  11 

An  Englishman's  Remarks.— A  year  or  two  since  a  frank 
English  woollen  and  hosiery  manufacturer  was  reported  as 
saying:  "  The  success  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  United 
States,  and  their  coming  majority  in  Congress,  and  their 
prospects  in  1884,  are  looked  upon  here  as  the  forerunners 
of  a  daybreak  in  the  trade  of  the  cloth  country.  Their 
(the  Democrats)  traditions  are  free  trade,  and  we  expect 
that  should  they  be  installed  at  Washington,  they  will 
throw  down  the  artificial  barriers  which  have  so  long 
barred  out  our  products."  Has  not  this  been  attempted  in 
the  famous  Tariff  bill  brought  forward  in  the  House  by  Mr. 
Morrison,  a  member  of  the  Cobden  Club  during  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  48th  Congress,  and  again  in  the  first  session  of 
the  49th  Congress  ? 

The  Bland  Advice. — The  English  manufacturers  would 
persuade  us  to  lay  aside  all  our  industries  that  interfere 
with  their  own,  especially  woollen,  cotton,  iron,  and  steel. 
When  asked  how  under  such  circumstances  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  our  own  people  employed  in  these  industries 
can  earn  a  livelihood,  we  are  blandly  told  to  settle  them  on 
our  vast  and  fertile  lands — that  is,  throw  away  the  skill 
they  have  acquired  as  industrial  artizans,  and  learn  the 
trade  of  the  farmer — in  order  to  raise  provisions  to  pay  for 
t-he  goods  which  our  considerate  friends  over  the  water 
would  make  for  us.  In  return  the  latter  are  willing  to  buy 
our  wheat  and  other  grains,  even  in  large  quantities,  when 
their  own  crops  happen  to  fail;  otherwise,  they  would  pre- 
fer after  exhausting  the  exchange  in  cotton,  that  we  should 
pay  the  balance  in  gold. 

The  People  Constitute  the  State.— When  it  is  objected 
that  crippling  our  industries  would  produce  a  glut  in  the 
labor  market  in  that  contingency,  they  suggest  that  the 
moneyed  capitalists  can  then  employ  labor  as  cheaply  as  in 
England.  That  is  a  result  which  the  genuine  and  patriotic 
American  statesman  does  not  want.  The  latter's  theory  is 
"the  people  constitute  the  State,"  and  he  has  an  eye  to 


78 


OUR  TARIFF. 


their  continual  development  as  an  intelligent,  industri- 
ous, temperate,  and  moral  people.  This  phase  of  American 
statesmanship  has  attracted  attention,  especially  in  England. 
The  London  Times  (July  12,  1880,  p.  11),  when  speaking  of 
Congress  protecting  American  industries  for  the  previous 
twenty  years,  says:  "The  object  of  their  statesmen  is  not 
to  secure  the  largest  amount  of  wealth  (revenue)  for  the 
country  generally,  but  to  keep  up  by  whatever  means  the 
standard  of  comfort  among  the  laboring  classes.'11  Designed 
or  undesigned,  could  there  be  a  more  just  and  expressive 
compliment  to  the  humane  sentiment  that  characterizes 
the  statesmanship  of  that  political  organization  which  has 
thus  cherished  the  industries,  the  comforts,  and  the  general 
progress  of  the  people  of  the  Union. 

The  Ketort.— By  way  of  apology  for  his  views  of  independ- 
ence and  of  self-respect  as  a  workman,  the  American  can 
say  to  the  Englishman:  "  You  have  tried  the  experiment  of 
employing  people  at  the  lowest  possible  wages,  and  you 
have  succeeded  in  having  one  in  thirty-three  of  your  popula- 
tion paupers;  and  in  addition  you  have  multitudes  more, 
who,  if  there  should  come  a  commercial  reverse,  would  sink 
also  into  the  abyss  of  pauperism.  You  have  destroyed  the 
self-respect  and  independence  of  your  laboring  classes  by 
paying  them  starvation  wages;  in  times  past  you  have  done 
but  little  to  elevate  them  by  means  of  public  schools,  in 
which  all  children  alike  could  have  received  an  education 
fitting  them  for  the  duties  of  citizenship.  To  be  sure  you 
are  now  partially  doing  what  should  have  been  done  half 
a  dozen  generations  ago,  to  give  some  education  to  the  peo- 
ple at  large ;  but  to-day  the  sad  results  of  this  neglect  on  the 
part  of  your, ruling  classes  are  upon  you,  and  with  your 
utmost  efforts  these  evils  cannot  be  removed  in  less  than 
two  or  three  generations." 

Quotations  from  Blackwood.— The  "  Eclectic"  (New  York), 
March,  1882,  has  an  article  on  "  Finance  West  of  the  At- 
lantic," taken  from  Blackwood' 's  Magazine.   This  paper 


ENGLISH  EFFORTS  TO  RUIN  OUR  MANUFACTURES  79 


says;  " There  is  an  obvious  reason  why  Englishmen  should 
devote  some  special  attention  to  the  progress  of  the  United 
States  if  England  is  to  maintain  her  commercial  primacy  in 
the  struggle  with  the  rest  of  the  world."  As  one  omen  of 
evil  it  affirms:  u  It  is  unnecessary  to  dilate  on  American  in- 
genuity; it  is  proverbial."  Then  again,  the  writer  remarks 
that  the  phrase,  u  Tariff  reform  adopted  instead  of  lfree 
trade*  in  Democratic  electioneering  speeches  must  not  be  over- 
looked" Why  this  change  of  expression,  and  why  is  its 
shrewdness  complimented  ?  Does  the  writer  view  it  as  a 
means  to  bamboozle  the  simple-minded  American  voters,  and 
thereby  under  that  guise  promote  the  free-trade  sentiment 
among  them  ?  That  change  of  phrase  does  not  deceive  the 
intelligent  any  more  than  the  word  exclusively  does  when 
substituted  for  the  word  only.  This  writer  acknowledges 
that  between  the  States  themselves,  4 '  it  is  true  that  America 
is  the  greatest  free  trade  country  in  the  world — it  is  even  a 
continent."  Therein  is  the  contrast,  England  is  for  free 
trade  abroad ;  the  United  States  for  free  trade  at  home. 


80 


OUB  TABIFF. 


XV. 

The  Cobden  Club. 

But  by  far  the  most  persistent  and  the  most  powerful  an- 
tagonist of  our  mechanical  industries  is  the  famous  u  Cob- 
den Club,"  named  in  honor  of  Richard  Cobden,  who  did  so 
much  to  inaugurate  free  trade  in  England.  This  club  justly 
boasts  of  more  distinguished  names  than  any  association  of 
the  kind  in  the  world.  Ever  since  its  formation  it  has 
been  popular  with  the  ruling  classes  in  England,  counting 
among  its  members  a  year  or  two  since  twelve  cabinet 
ministers  out  of  fourteen,  and  all  the  great  Secretaries  of 
State,  from  the  Prime  Ministers  down  to  those  of  the  colo- 
ies.  Home  and  Foreign  Affairs,  and  in  addition  about  two 
hundred  members  of  Parliament,  and  also  other  prominent 
men  in  Church  and  State,  besides  manufacturers  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom,  and  owners  of  the  soil.  The 
wealth  that  can  be  drawn  upon  by  the  Club  is  enormous. 
Many  of  the  members  are  millionaires,  men  of  great  energy, 
intelligence  and  enterprise. 

The  Obstruction. — The  chief  impediment,  it  is  acknowl- 
edged, in  making  England  the  workshop  of  the  world  is  the 
manufacturing  skill  and  progress  of  the  American  people. 
The  Club  "  cannot  rest  while  the  United  States  are  unsub- 
dued— not  only  England  but  the  whole  world  is  to  be  brought 
into  obedience."  The  prize  to  be  obtained  is  well  worth  the 
ambition  even  of  the  Cobden  Club.  It  is  no  less  than  to 
secure  60,000,000  customers  now  (1887),  in  our  own  land, 
and  break  up  our  mechanical  industries,  that  the  English, 
from  their  own  workshops,  by  means  of  low  wages  and  free 


THE  COBB  EN  CLUB. 


81 


trade,  may  supply  the  articles  we  ourselves  now  produce. 
Being  conscious  of  its  vast  resources,  the  Club  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  proclaim  its  design  of  abolishing  everywhere  meas- 
ures that  are  calculated  to  equalize  the  cost  of  production, 
or  in  other  terms  protective  tariffs,  and  thus  in  effect  to 
bring  the  wages  paid  in  mechanical  industries  throughout 
the  world  to  one  common  standard,  that  of  England.  This 
has  been  a  leading  object  of  the  Club  for  years,  and  at  one 
of  its  annual  meetings  it  was  announced:  "We  can  well 
afford  to  wait  a  little  longer  for  the  adhesion  of  a  people 
(the  American)  whose  verdict  when  pronounced  will  be 
decisive  of  the  fate  of  protection  both  in  Europe  and 
America." 

The  Jubilant  Dinner.— The  Cobden  Club  in  1880  mani- 
fested unusual  interest  in  the  elections  to  be  held  in  the 
United  States  in  November  of  that  year  for  members  of 
Congress  and  for  President.  The  London  Times  of  July  12, 
1880  (pp.  11,  12)  gives  a  glowing  account  of  the  Club's  an- 
nual dinner,  at  which  the  members  were  unusually  jubilant, 
as  they  were  assured  that  the  prospects  for  the  success  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  the  coming  Presidential  election 
were  very  favorable.  Earl  Spencer  presided  and  made  the 
opening  address,  saying :  1 '  That  aided  by  such  distinguished 
American  economists  as  we  see  here  to-night,  he  hoped  the 
United  States  would  see  the  errors  of  their  ways  and  adopt 
free  trade."  Several  well-known  American  u  revenue  re- 
formers,"—honorary  members  of  the  Club — were  reported 
as  present  on  this  occasion. 

The  Earl  also  gave  an  account  of  a  book  or  pamphlet  on 
the  "  Western  Farms  of  America,"  written  by  Mr.  Augustus 
Montgredien,  whom  the  Club  employed  in  a  literary  capac- 
ity and  which  book  was  issued  by  the  Club,  and  distributed 
by  its  American  members,  and  coadjutors  in  many  tens  of 
thousands  throughout  the  western  and  northwestern  grain 
region  of  the  Union,  and  also  of  another  pamphlet  on  "  Free 
Trade  and  English  Commerce,"  for  gratuitous  circulation. 
The  number  of  documents  and  pamphlets  issued  by  the 
6 


82 


OTJB  TABIFF. 


Cobden  Club,  and  thus  distributed  in  the  United  States, 
amounted  in  all  to  about  700,000.  American  citizens  can 
judge  of  the  modesty  of  the  Club  by  the  following  directions 
contained  in  one  of  these  pamphlets:  "Let  the  American 
farmers  give  support  to  no  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  who  does  not  pledge  himself,  if 
elected,  to  propose,  or  at  least  vote  for  a  reduction  of  five 
(5)  per  cent  every  successive  year  on  the  import  duties 
until  the  whole  are  abolished."  But  the  Hon.  Wm,  E. 
Morrison,  himself  a  member  of  the  Club,  and  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  wished  Congress  (1884) 
in  his  famous  Horizontal  Tariff  bill  to  reduce  all  import 
duties  twenty  per  cent  instead  of  five. 

The  Earl  in  the  course  of  his  address,  made  a  statement, 
which  he  appears  to  have  believed,  to  the  effect  that  Mr. 
Montgredien  proved  in  his  book  ' '  that  the  Western  American 
farmers  were  taxed  $400,000,000  a  year  because  of  the  exist- 
ing protective  tariff."  (See  reply  to  Montgredien  by  Hon. 
Thomas  H.  Dudley.}  That  nobleman  must  have  been  dis- 
appointed at  the  amount  of  influence  this  pamphlet  had 
upon  these  farmers  if  he  scanned  the  returns  from  the 
same  grain-growing  States  in  the  Presidential  election  in 
the  following  November. 

Medals  to  American  Students.— At  the  same  dinner  Mr. 
W.  E.  Baxter,  M.  P.,  announced  that  " prizes  or  medals 
had  been  given  by  the  Club  to  students  in  Harvard  and  in 
Yale  for  essays  in  favor  of  free  trade,"  and  in  a  special  re- 
port made  a  week  later,  a  student  in  Williams  College,  is 
also  mentioned  as  having  received  a  medal.  In  the  latter 
two  colleges  the  professors  of  Political  Economy  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Cobden  Club.  Did  it  not  occur  to  these  students, 
if  not  to  their  instructors  in  Political  Economy,  that  the 
Club  might  possibly  have  an  ulterior  and  a  peculiarly  in- 
terested motive,  in  their  being  thus  liberal  in  conferring 
medals?  In  addition  to  giving  prizes  as  above,  it  also  fur- 
nishes pamphlets  advocating  free  trade,  the  latter  being  dis- 
tributed gratuitously  by  its  American  members. 


THE  COBDEN  CLUB. 


83 


Benevolence  of  the  Cobden  Club. — If  the  design  of  this 
association  of  English  gentlemen  was,  for  illustration,  to 
promote  among  the  American  people  elevating  principles, 
as  in  literature,  or  in  science,  or  temperance,  meanwhile  its 
only  reward  being  the  consciousness  of  having  advanced  a 
good  cause,  it  ought,  and  it  would  be  welcomed  in  its  noble 
and  philanthropic  work.  But  what  are  the  real  motives 
and  designs  of  the  Cobden  Club  ?  This  question  has  been 
answered  as  we  have  seen,  and  that  explicitly,  by  statements 
in  the  reports  made  by  its  trusted  agents ;  the  same  receiv- 
ing the  approval  of  the  Club  itself.  In  these  reports  crops 
out  its  systematized  plan,  which  is  nothing  less  than  first  to 
break  down  our  mechanical  industries,  because  in  the  latter 
we  are  recognized  as  England's  most  dangerous  rival,  and 
on  their  ruins  to  construct  an  immense  monopoly,  which 
would  manufacture  and  supply  us  with  the  articles  that  we 
are  now  making  for  ourselves.  Do  intelligent  American 
working  men  and  women  understand  what  this  scheme 
implies  ?  It  simply  means  that  English  manufacturers  and 
merchants,  aided  and  abetted  on  our  own  soil  by  the  advo- 
cates of  free  trade  and  for  revenue  only,  intend,  by  break- 
ing down  our  mechanical  industries,  to  curtail  our  work- 
people's facilities  for  earning  a  living,  and  afterward  com- 
pensate them  for  their  losses  by  inaugurating  free  trade, 
and  promising  them  for  the  future  cheaper  goods  made 
abroad.  Our  workpeople  can  answer:  uWe  prefer  to  let 
well  alone,  rather  than  undergo  poverty  and  suffering  even 
for  a  short  time,  and  run  the  risk  of  the  promised  millennium 
of  cheap  goods,  which,  by  the  way,  we  will  then  be  unable 
to  purchase  since  our  opportunity  for  earning  the  money 
has,  in  the  mean  time,  according  to  the  programme,  been 
taken  away.  And,  moreover,  we  have  already  found  that 
home  competition  not  only  gives  us  goods  equally  good  and 
cheap,  but  in  addition  the  opportunity  of  earning  the  where- 
with to  buy  them." 

The  Animus  of  the  Club.— English  statesmen,  manufactur- 


84 


OUR  TARIFF. 


ers,  and  merchants  are  willing  that  the  American  and  other 
nations  should  supply  the  English  people  with  food  and  the 
raw  material  for  their  manufactories.  The  latter  costs  ahout 
ten  per  cent  of  the  article  when  ready  for  market,  the  differ- 
ence in  value  being  about  ninety,  which,  because  of  low 
wages,  accrues  for  the  most  part  to  the  English  manufac- 
turer, whom  the  Club  represents.  In  all  this  scheming 
there  is  such  a  flavor  of  mercenary  gain  and  selfishness, 
that  we  are  unable  to  imagine  how  self-respecting  Ameri- 
cans are  willing,  knowingly,  to  play  into  the  hands  of  an 
association  so  hostile  to  our  mechanical  industries,  and  to 
the  welfare  of  our  own  working  people.  In  unguarded 
moments  the  members  have  revealed  their  ulterior  designs, 
and  these  avowals  carry  with  them  clearer  evidence  of  their 
truth  because  of  their  being  unconsciously  given  out.  The 
Cobden  Club  has  only  reduced  to  a  system  what  "  Blunder- 
ing Brougham  "  advised  and  Lord  Goderich  sanctioned,  and 
which  has  been  attempted  again  and  again  by  individual 
manufacturers  or  merchants  in  certain  lines,  in  endeavoring 
to  break  down  our  industries  by  means  of  flooding  our 
country  with  similar  goods  at  the  lowest  prices.  The  policy 
is  to  secure  the  manufacturing  and  the  trade  of  the  world, 
not  in  a  fair  and  generous  competition,  but  by  foul  means, 
ruining  the  mechanical  industries  of  other  nations,  and* 
when  they  are  destroyed,  as  the  Parliamentary  Commission 
said,  u  step  in  for  the  whole  trade  when  priees  revive." 
The  animating  spirit  of  the  Cobden  Club  is  the  same  to-day 
as  in  1880,  when  the  members  were  so  sanguine  the  Demo- 
cratic party  would  succeed  that  they  spoke  out  incau- 
tiously. The  failure  to  elect  those  whom  they  had  every 
reason  to  believe  would  follow  in  the  main  the  policy  which 
the  Club  had  laid  down  has  induced  the  members  since  that 
time  to  be  more  careful  in  enunciating  their  plans — the 
tiger  is  only  waiting  an  opportunity  to  spring. 

It  may  be  retorted  that  those  Irish- Americans  are  equally 
impertinent  in  meddling  with  English  affairs,  who  furnish 
funds  to  aid  the  Irish  people  in  obtaining  "Home  Kule." 


THE  COBDEN  CLUB: 


85 


The  cases  are  by  no  means  parallel,  inasmuch  as  those  who 
thus  contribute  do  not  expect  to  make  money  out  of  the  op- 
eration, either  for  themselves  or  for  those  whom  they  may 
represent. 

The  Singular  Advice. — That  certain  American  writers  and 
lecturers  on  political  economy  are  in  sympathy  with  the 
Cobden  Club  in  its  efforts  to  introduce  the  system  of  free 
trade  into  the  United  States,  the  following  advice  and 
suggestion  would  lead  us  to  infer.  As  the  revenue  of  the 
National  Government  was  greater  than  needed  for  its  cur- 
rent expenses,  the  question  arose  as  to  how  a  reduction 
of  the  surplus  could  be  made  to  best  advantage.  A  promi- 
nent leader  in  the  "  revenue  reform"  movement— a  mem- 
ber of  the  Cobden  Club — is  reported  to  have  advised  in 
one  of  his  addresses,  that  the  members  of  the  association 
"  should  aim  to  prevent  the  abolition  of  the  internal  revenue 
system,  as  the  reduction  in  the  taxes,  which  was  inevitable, 
would  then  be  obtained  by  a  reduction  of  the  tariff. "  An- 
other advocate  of  the  same  1  'reform,"  also  a  member  of  the 
Club,  suggests  that  they  "pray  for  a  little  more  bank- 
ruptcy, which  would  do  more  to  knock  off  the  tariff  than 
free-trade  doctrines."  (New  York  Tribune,  July  5,  1883.) 
The  first  advice  means  that  the  internal  revenue  tax,  which 
is  direct  and  obligatory,  and  was  levied  in  war  times  upon 
articles  many  of  prime  necessity,  should  be  retained,  and 
that  the  indirect  tax,  which  can  be  avoided  by  not  buying 
the  foreign  article  upon  which  it  is  levied,  and  which  also, 
comes  in  competition  with  articles  that  we  can  make  our- 
selves, should  be  taken  off— and  why  ?  To  promote  the 
theory  of  which  the  Cobden  Club  is  a  persistent  advocate  ? 

Tactics  of  the  CIud. — A  committee  of  the  Club  reported  in 
1883  that  1 4  in  the  United  States  the  events  of  the  last  few 
years,  the  efforts  of  many  able  and  active  free  traders,  and 
the  exertions  of  your  committee  in  disseminating  publica- 
tions, have  had  the  effect  of  bringing  free  exchange  to  the 
front  as  one  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day."  It  also  re- 


86 


QUE  TARIFF. 


ports  on  July  19, 1884:  "  Your  committee  continues  to  afford 
all  the  assistance  in  their  power  to  those  who  are  laboring 
in  the  free-trade  cause  in  foreign  countries.  In  America,  in 
the  course  of  political  events  there  is  great  promise.  .  .  . 
The  result  of  the  turning  of  public  attention  in  this  direction 
is  seen  in  the  fact  that  revenue  reform  is  becoming  a  leading 
question  in  the  Presidential  contest,  and  is  on  the  winning 
side." 

In  the  same  issue  of  the  London  Times  referred  to,  the 
editor  exclaims  :  "  The  Cobden  Club  is  in  the  ascendant— its 
opponents  seem  literally  nowhere.  .  .  .  How  free  trade 
will  come  some  day  to  the  United  States  must  be  left  to  the 
Cobden  Club,  and  to  its  twelve  Cabinet  ministers  in  their  un- 
official capacity  to  decide.  ...  It  is  to  the  New  World  that 
the  Club  is  chiefly  looking,  as  the  most  likely  sphere  for  its 
vigorous  foreign  policy.  It  has  done  what  it  can  for  Europe, 
and  is  now  turning  its  eyes  westward,  and  bracing  itself  for 
the  struggle  which  is  to  come.  ...  So  it  will  go  on  until 
reason  has  destroyed  protection  in  the  great  stronghold 
(United  States)  in  which  it  has  intrenched  itself.  .  .  .  We 
intend  to  break  down  the  protecting  system  in  the  United 
States  and  to  substitute  the  British  system-— that  done,  our 
victory  is  complete  and  final."  It  may  be  remarked,  how- 
ever, that  since  the  result  of  the  presidential  election  in 
1880  became  known,  the  members  of  the  Club  at  their  an- 
nual dinners  have  not  been  quite  so  exultant  in  their  hopes 
of  establishing  free  trade  in  the  United  States ;  they  have 
certainly  not  been  so  outspoken ;  for  obvious  reasons  they 
are  more  cautious. 

The  Conclusion.— It  seems  to  be  expected  that  the  success 
of  our  mechanical  industries  and  the  wages  of  our  work- 
people, are  in  due  time  to  become  dependent  on  the  theories 
of  our  own  "revenue  reformers,"  under  the  direction  and 
stimulus  of  the  Cobden  Club.  The  latter  demands  absolute 
free  trade,  but  the  majority  of  our  friends,  the  Democratic 
leaders,  and  their  allies  are  a  little  more  cautious,  and  they 
prefer  for  the  present,  that  we  should  have  a  homoeopathic 


THE  COBDEJSf  CLUB.  81 

dose  in  the  sugared  pill  of  "for  revenue  only,"  or  "  exclu- 
sively for  public  purposes."  Are  the  American  people  wil- 
ling that  their  mechanical  industries  should  be  thus  uncere- 
moniously handed  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Cobden 
Club  ? 


THE  ENDo 


A  CONCISE  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


By  JACOB  HARRIS  PATTON,  M.A.,  Ph.D, 


Illustrated  with  Ninety-eight  Portraits  of  Representative  Men  from  Colum- 
bus to  President  Arthur,  Charts,  Maps,  etc.,  and  containing 
Marginal  Dates,  Census  Tables  (1880),  Statistical  Ref- 
erences, and  full  Indexes — both  Analytical 
and  Topical. 

Neto,  3&ebt0eir  IBtrttirmu 


This  work  is  not  a  mere  narrative,  but  a  full  treatise,  dealing 
with  causes  and  principles,  as  well  as  events,  in  which  narrative,  de- 
scriptive, biography  and  philosophy  play  their  several  parts,  while 
the  great  features  of  history — political,  religious,  industrial  and 
educational — stand  out  with  inviting  distinctness. 

By  way  of  coming  at  what  may  be  called  the  specialty  of  the 
work, — the  discussion  of  influential  forces,  in  the  development  of 
national  character — please  note  the  following  passages  : 

Land  Holdings,  p.  105 ;  Social  life  of  the  Puritan 
Colonists,  126  ; 

Town  and  County  Meetings,  231; 

Internal  Improvements,  700;  Causes  leading  to 
Nullification,  717  ; 

Comparative  Intelligence— Free  and  Slave  States, 
857; 

Reconstruction  of  the  States,  1033;  Fraudulent 
Voting,  1053; 

Training  of  Citizens^  1088, 

Besides  these  and  many  other  admirable  passages  treating  of 
important  elements  of  history,  the  book  is  enlivened  by  the  narration 
of  incidents  and  scenes  of  special  interest,  and  by  a  multitude  of 
compact  but  graphic  sketches  of  notable  individuals,  giving  pen- 
portraits  of  persons,  characters  and  achievements,  which  transmit 
vivid  impressions  of  the  men  and  their  doings.  These  frequent  epi- 
sodes give  life  and  romantic  attraction  to  the  narrative,  enchaining 
the  attention  as  well  as  adding  to  the  genuine  historic  value  of  the 
work.  They  form  one  distinctive  feature — that  of  effective,  picturesque 
description— which  is  rather  notable  in  a  work  so  successfully  concise. 

Special  facilities  for  reference  are  found  in  the  con- 
tinuous Marginal  Dates,  Cross  References  from  one  part  of  the  work 
to  another,  interesting  Statistical  Tables  from  the  latest  available 
data,  and  the  full  Indexes.    The  Analytical  Index  is  very  complete, 


giving  alphabetically  more  than  2,000  References.  The  Topical  In- 
dex is  of  great  value  in  the  study  or  search  after  special  subjects,  as  it 
groups  under  subject-headings  references  to  such  themes  as  Dis- 
coveries and  Explorations,  Settlements,  Acquisitions  of  Territory, 
Treaties,  Land-holdings,  Town  and  County  Meetings,  Immigrants*, 
Education,  Illiteracy,  The  Press,  Industries,  etc.  These  place  at 
instant  command  a  great  number  of  specialized  facts.  Without  being 
in  any  sense  an  abridgment,  it  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  best  com- 
plete account  of  our  country  and  people  at  present  attainable,  whether 
for  reading,  reference,  or  study. 

NOTICES   OF   THE  PRE88: 

"The  purpose  of  this  admirable  book  is  to  hold  a  middle  line  between  the 
elaborate  histories  and  the  school  compends;  and  to  trace  the  direct  influences 
which  have  molded  the  character  and  the  institutions,  moral  and  political,  of  the 
Nation.    ...   In  a  word,  the  plan  is  that  which  was  later  adopted  by  John 

Richard  Green,  in  his  History  of  the  English  People  The  chapters 

which  treat  of  the  late  civil  war  deserve  the  commendation  they  have  received 
for  discrimination  and  impartiality.  They  bear  the  stamp  of  a  calm  judicial 
mind.,, — Magazine  of  American  History. 

41  Written  in  a  style  pure  and  entirely  unimpeachable,  it  deserves  high  praise 
for  compressing  so  much  into  so  small  a  compass,  without  omitting  the  details 
that  enliven  and  the  colors  that  ailure.,, — Philadelphia  North  American. 

"Professor  Patton   .   .    .    has  thorough  command  of  his  material.   .   .  . 
He  is  at  home,  not  only  in  the  successive  events  of  our  history,  but  in  the  princi- 
ples and  ideas  which  have  been  at  the  roots  of  our  political  development.   .   .  . 
He  brings  his  facts  to  illustrate  principles,  and   .   .   .   seizes  upon  and  em- 
phasizes those  which  have  been  factors  in  the  making  of  history.   .   .   .   We  re- 

fard  the  book  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  valuable  popular  manual  of  American 
istory  now  in  the  market.  It  is  a  book  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  young 
people,  .  .  .  and  students  and  readers  of  all  kinds  will  find  it  an  invaluable 
hand-book  for  reference." — The  Presbyterian  Review. 

"  It  is  without  doubt  the  best  short  history  of  the  United  States  that  has  ever 
been  published.  No  progressive  teacher  can  afford  to  do  without  it."— ■Teacher'' s 
Institute,  N.  Y. 

"  We  take  great  pleasure  in  commending  it  for  general  reading  and  reference, 
for  use  in  colleges  and  schools,  and  for  all  the  purposes  of  a  complete  and  ac- 
curate history.  .  .  .  We  have  in  it  a  panoramic  view  of  the  Nation,  from  its 
origin  through  its  wonderful  progress,  to  its  present  standing  among  the  nations 
of  the  world.  .  .  .  The  publishers  have  brought  out  the  work  in  very  hand- 
some style.  The  numerous  engravings  of  eminent  men  give  it  also  the  attractive- 
ness of  a  National  Portrait  Gallery." — New  York  Observer. 

"  Prof.  Patton  approaches  much  nearer  to  the  ideal  historian  than  any  writer 
of  similar  books.  His  work  must  be  given  the  highest  place  among  short  histories 
of  the  United  States. " — Christian  Union  (New  York). 

"  This  book  is  a  marvel  of  conciseness.  The  facts  of  American  history  have 
been  subjected,  seeminglv,  to  some  rare  power  of  condensation,  and,  as  here  pre- 
sented, are  truly  a  sort  of  double  extract  of  history.  All  that  is  needed  is  to  be 
found  in  it  and  nothing  superfluous  has  been  admitted."— Boston  Post. 

"Mr.  Patton  takes  more  distinct  cognizance  than  is  usual  of  the  religious 
opinions  and  ecclesiastical  movements  which  have  always  been  a  most  important 
and  influential  element  in  moulding  the  character  and  directing  toe  activity  ot 
the  various  sections  and  classes  of  the  American  people.  .  .  .  Mr.  Patton  s 
style  is  deserving  of  unqualified  praise.  It  is  pure  simple,  strong,  tree  trom 
mannerism,  and  singularly  easy  and  graceful."— North  American  Review. 


3  Vols.,  Extra  Cloth,  gilt  top,  $5.00       %  Vols.,  Half  Morocco,  $9.00 
1  Vol.,  Half  Russia  $7.00 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  Park  Place,  New  York. 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY : 


Its  Political  History  and  Influence. 


BY  PROF.  J.  H.  PATTON, 

Author  of  "A  Concise  History  of  the  American  People;'1  "How  we  are 
Governed;"  "Natural  Resources  of  the  United  States"  etc. 


The  oldest  of  these— the  Democratic— is  the  basis  of  the  book,  while  its  chief 
rivals— the  Federal,  the  Whig,  and  the  Republican  parties— are  examined.  All 
the  important  political  events  and  measures  are  here  arranged  under  their  head- 
iDgs,  and  the  thoughtful  reader  cannot  help  finding  himself  well  informed  on  the 
political,  moral,  financial,  and  industrial  questions  of  the  day—  N.  Y.  Graphic. 

In  a  spirit  of  fairness,  he  has  reviewed  the  history  of  the  Democracy  from  the 
days  of  Jefferson  down  to  the  present  time.  He  has  pointed  out  the  good  it  has 
done  and  given  credit  for  it.  He  has  pointed  out  also  the  harm  it  has  done  and 
held  the  party  to  the  strictest  accountability.  Mr.  Patton  has  gathered  into  a  small 
volume  a  large  amount  of  information.— Rochester  Democrat  and  Chronicle. 

For  the  preparation  of  a  sketch  showing  the  nature  and  tendencies  of  a  political 
party,  the  drift  of  events,  the  force  of  ideas,  and  the  underlying  causes  of  men's 
actions,  no  one  is  better  qualified.—  Magazine  of  American  History  (jV.  Y.). 

Deals  in  the  frigid  facts  and  merciless  philosophy  of  impartial  history.—  Repub- 
lican Standard  (Uniontown,  Pa.). 

An  instructive  outline  review  of  the  whole  political  history  of  the  United  States. 
— N.  Y.  Times. 

He  has  written  a  book  that  for  conciseness  of  statement  and  broadness  of  ground 
covered,  is  a  masterpiece.— Rochester  Herald. 

Mr.  Patton  writes  with  deep  convictions,  and  his  facts  should  open  the  eyes  of 
even  a  hereditary  Democrat. — Cincinnati  Com.  Gazette. 

To  the  man  who  would  know  the  origin,  the  history  and  the  animus  of  the 
Democratic  party  this  history  will  be  invaluable.  .  .  .  Should  find  its  way  into 
every  library. — Indianapolis  Journal. 

It  contains  a  world  of  information  to  the  political  student,  as  well  as  many  for- 
gotten and  interesting  facts. — Toledo  (O.)  Blade. 

It  spares  the  party  not  one  whit,  yet  fortifies  its  positions  with  arrays  of  fact 
that  are  staggering.  -Sacramento  (Cal.)  Record-Union. 

The  writing  is  done  in  a  spirited  and  attractive  manner  and  the  statements  are 
clear  and  concise.  .  .  .  The  facts  it  presents  are  worth  studying  by  voters  of 
every  creed,  and  the  concise  and  systematic  arrangement  of  the  historical  matter 
makes  it  valuable  as  a  political  book  of  reference.— Texas  Sifting s. 

Completing  the  survey  of  parties,  and  enabling  the  studious  voter  to  weigh 
pretty  accurately  the  services  of  each.  ...  A  terrible  list  of  blunders— the 
whole  brought  to  naught,  confessed,  by  the  party  itself,  to  be  discreditable  in 
principle  and  mischievous  in  practice.— N.  Y.  Tribune. 


16mo,  350  pp.    Cloth.    Price,  prepaid,  One  Dollar. 


For  Club  Rates  inquire  of  the  Publishers, 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  Park  Place,  New  York. 


POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


"  Will  startle  the  Democracy  itself."— Detroit  Post. 

Whereas,  it  is  of  extreme  importance  that  our  intelligent  foreign- 
born  citizens  and  young  men  about  to  become  voters  should  be  better 
acquainted  with  the  underlying  principles  of  the  financial  and  in- 
dustrial policy  of  this  Nation,  and  the  political  history  of  the  country; 
and 

Whereas,  Prof.  J.  Harris  Patton,  the  well-known  historian,  has 
written^,  book  entitled  "The  Democratic  Party,"  etc.,  admirably, 
clearly,  and  impartially  portraying  the  influence  exerted  upon  the 
American  people  by  the  Democratic  Party  and  by  its  opponents,  the 
Federalist,  Whig,  and  Republican  parties,  in  which  volume  he  shows 
that  the  welfare  of  the  Nation  has  uniformly  depended  upon  the  de- 
feat of  the  Democratic  Party;  and 

Whereas,  this  club  has  by  a  committee  caused  a  careful  examina- 
tion to  be  made  of  said  book ;  be  it 

Besolved,  that  we  heartily  and  unanimously  recommend  Prof. 
Patton's  work  to  all  members  of  the  Republican  Party,  and 
urge  other  Republican  clubs  throughout  the  country  to  introduce 
it  among  their  members. 


New  York,  May  16,  1885. 
I,  Samuel  Campbell,  Secretary  of  the  21st  Assembly  District  Re- 
publican Association,  hereby  certify  that  the  forgoing  is  a  true  copy 
of  resolutions  adopted  by  said  association  at  a  regular  meeting  there- 
of held  at  Morton  Hall,  April  10,  1865. 


From  Hon.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  New  York. 

I  have  read  Prof.  Patton's  "  History  of  the  Democratic  Party 11  with  both  pleas- 
ure and  profit;  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  most  needed  book  and  to  show  most  clearly 
certain  truths  which  men  are  very  apt  to  forget,  and  yet  which  are  highly  im 
portant  for  all  good  citizens  to  remember.  I  trust  that  its  usefulness  will  secure 
for  it  the  recognition  it  deserves. 


THE 

Natural  Resources  of  the  United  States. 

BY 

J.  HARRIS  PATTON,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 


(Extract  from  Preface  of  a  forthcoming  volume.) 

The  intention  of  the  author  of  this  volume  is  to  give  the  Amer- 
ican people  an  account  of  the  Natural  Resources  of  their  own  coun- 
try; in  one  respect  the  narrative  is  unique,  inasmuch  as  it  includes 
in  their  multifarious  forms  all  these  treasures.  Some  of  the  metals, 
such  as  gold,  silver  and  iron,  as  well  as  coal  and  petroleum,  have 
been  treated  separately  by  other  authors,  but  no  one  has,  hitherto, 
covered  the  entire  field. 

The  scope  of  the  present  work  includes:  Coal — Petroleum  and 
Natural  Gas — Iron-ores — Manganese — Gold  and  Silver — Quicksilver 
— Lead  and  Copper — Minor  Metals;  Tin,  Cobalt,  Aluminum,  etc.—' 
Corundum,  Emery,  etc. — Plumbago — Fire-clays  and  Kaolin — Pre- 
cious Stones  —  Marble — Slates  and  Building-stones — Salt — Mineral 
Springs  and  Health  Resorts — Fertilizers;  Gypsum  and  Phosphate 
Rock— Climate  and  Temperature — Soil  and  Rainfall— Orchard  and 
Small  Fruits — The  Grape — Forests — Grain- belts,  as  of  Wheat,  Indian 
Corn,  etc. — Grasses;  Native  and  Cultivated — Fibers;  Cotton,  Flax, 
Ramie,  etc. — Game — Resources  of  the  Waters;  Fishes,  Oysters, 
Fur-  bearing  Seals,  Sponges,  etc.  This  view  is  comprehensive,  tak- 
ing in  the  whole  land,  and  is  sufficiently  full  on  each  subject;  while 
it  is  not  within  its  scope  to  treat  of  manufacturing  based  on  these 
resources,  nor  in  respect  to  their  transportation. 

It  is  shown,  also,  why  the  United  States  derive  more  benefit, 
in  temperature  and  rainfall,  from  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Equa- 
torial Currents  than  both  Europe  and  Asia  combined.  There  is 
likewise  an  account  given  of  the  Homestead  Law  and  the  extension 
of  railways,  by  which  the  Nation's  unoccupied  lands  are  reached  and 
settled,  that  were  hitherto  inaccessible. 

Finally,  a  tabulated  view  of  the  annual  output,  products,  etc., 
for  three  consecutive  years : — this  table  will  be  continued  from  year 
to  year,  in  order  to  make  the  people  familiar  with  the  progress  of 
their  country.  Gratitude  bids  the  author  acknowledge  that  he  was 
much  encouraged  in  thus  making  known  to  the  American  people  the 
riches  of  their  own  land,  because  of  the  interest  manifested  in  the 
subject  by  State  and  National  Officials.  For  illustration,  in  the  case 
of  thirty  States  and  Territories,  the  requisite  information  was  derived 
from  books  treating  of  their  natural  resources,  and  which  were  sent 
the  author  by  their  respective  governors,  in  all  nearly  one  hundred 
volumes  including  pamphlets,  and  in  addition  often  manuscripts 
supplying  deficiencies.  In  respect  to  the  remaining  States  the  in- 
formation was  obtained  from  other  sources,  and  also  from  statistics 
published  by  the  Interior  Department  at  Washington. 


[IF  PBESS.] 


The  Yorktown  Memorial. 

BY 

J.  HARRIS  PATTON,  M.A.,  Ph.D.  - 


This  is  a  compendious  account  of  the  Campaign  of  the  Allied 
French  and  American  Forces,  resulting  in  the  Surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis  and  the  Close  of  the  American  Revolution  ;  the  succeeding 
events,  to  the  Treaty  of  Peace  ;  and  the  Celebration  of  the  Centennial 
Anniversary  of  the  Surrender  at  Yorktown. 

ILLUSTRATED 

with  Portraits  of  Washington,  Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  De  Grasse 
and  Steuben  ;  Maps  of  the  Peninsula  and  the  Siege  ;  and  Drawings 
of  the  Commemorative  Franklin  Medal  and  of  the  Yorktown 
Monument. 

This  memorial  has  been  characterized  as  the  only  one  that  gives 
a  graphic  but  concise  view  of  the  difficulties  which  our  Revolutionary 
Army  surmounted  during  the  year  and  a  half  preceding  the  siege  of 
Yorktown  and  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  This  in  truth  was  the 
most  depressing  period  of  the  struggle — the  darkest  hour  before  the 
dawn.  It  also  relates  the  events  of  this  Campaign,  the  only  one  in 
which  our  French  Allies,  both  Land  Forces  and  Navy,  were  able  to 
act  in  perfect  unison  with  the  Army  of  Washington. 

PRESS  NOTICES. 

"  The  final  conflict  of  the  Revolution  has  never  been  more  fully 
or  clearly  described,  and  portraits  and  maps  enhance  the  value  and 
attractions  of  the  work"— Cincinnati  Gazette. 

"  A  very  beautiful  work.  .  .  The  design  is  admirably  carried 
out  of  combining  under  the  general  title  of  '  Yorktown,'  such  mater- 
ials as  contributed  to  form  a  complete  memorial  of  the  two  groups 
of  events  in  1781  and  1881  "—Boston  Home  Journal. 

Says  the  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Dudley,  of  Camden,  N.  J„  in  a  letter 
to  the  author  ;  under  date  of  March  26,  1886  :  "I  have  read  with 
pleasure  and  profit  your  Yorktown  Memorial.  I  was  so  much  in- 
terested, that  I  could  not  lay  it  down  until  I  had  finished  it." 


62  pages,  large  octavo,  postpaid,  25  cents. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  Park  Place,  New  York. 


LIFE  STUDIES  FROM  THE  GREA  T  REBELLION. 


Abraham  Lincoln: 


The  True  Story  of  a  Great  Life. 

SHOWING  THE  INNER  GROWTH,  SPECIAL  TRAINING,  AND  PECUL- 
IAR FITNESS  OF  THE  MAN  FOR  HIS  WORK. 

By  WILLIAM  O.  STODDARD, 

ONE  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  SECRETARIES  DURING  THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION. 


JKKttf)  Illustrations- 


"  The  public  life  of  Hampden  .  .  .  resembles  a  regular  drama  which  can  be 
criticised  as  a  whole,  and  every  scene  of  which  is  to  be  viewed  in  connection  with 
the  main  action.1' — Macaulay's  Essay  on  Pitt. 


"His  account  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  youth  is 
very  striking,  and  he  gives  a  minute  and 
interesting  narrative  of  theslowand  careful 
steps  by  which  he  fitted  himself  for  polit- 
ical life.  He  brings  out  distinctly  Mr 
Lincoln's  sagacity  and  patience  in  critical 
periods  of  great  enterprises ;  he  explains 
admirably  his  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  popular  sentiment  and  disposition, 
and  shows  what  shrewd  use  was  made  of 
that  knowledge  ;  and  he  sets  in  strong 
light  the  President's  patriotism,  unselfish- 
ness, tenderness,  and  religious  spirit." — 
New  York  Tribune. 

"  Careful  and  exact  in  details,  where  de- 
tails are  accessible  ;  expressing  at  every 
point  a  profound  admiration — nay,  rever- 
ence— for  the  individuality  of  its  subject, 
yet  glossing  over  no  defect,  no  uncouth- 
ness  of  manner,  no  fault  of  temper ;  keep- 
ing always  to  the  true  historical  perspective, 
and  setting  forth  the  person  of  Lincoln 
in  high  relief  against  the  dark  background 
of  the  times ;  summing  up  the  evolution 
of  political  parties,  the  history  of  a  military 
campaign,  in  a  page  or  a  paragraph  :  writ- 
ten in  terse,  clear-cut  English  ;  and  in- 
tensely readable  from  beginning  to  end- 
Mr.  Stoddard's,  in  our  opinion,  approaches 
closely  to  the  ideal  biography  and  scarcely 
will  be  superseded  by  the  efforts  of  any 
subsequent  author.'1—  Literary  World, 
Boston. 

"  It  is  in  truth  the  story  of  Abraham 
Lincoln's  life,  rather  than  his  mere  biogra- 
phy. Mr.  Stoddard  has  told  his  'story'  in 
the  most  entertaining  way.  It  is  a  book 
to  lie  on  the  family  table  and  to  be  often 


and  enjoyably  perused." — Christian 
Standard,  Chicago. 

fc<  Contains  much  new  and  valuable  in- 
formation in  regard  to  Lincoln's  life  and 
personal  character.  From  it  we  get  a  defi- 
nite impression  of  life  at  the  White  House 
during  the  first  four  years  of  the  war,  as 
well  as  some  idea  of  Executive  methods 
during  those  troublous  times.  The  author 
has  been  very  judicious  in  the  selection  of 
anecdotes  and  has  compressed  within  rea- 
sonable limits  the  great  mass  of  material 
at  his  command.  His  book  is  very  reada- 
ble and  deserving  a  wide  circulation." — 
Evening  Journal,  Chicago. 

"  Mr.  Stoddard's  is  the  best,  because  it 
faithfully  relates  the  facts  and  attempts 
no  fulsome  eulogies.  Abounds  in  senti- 
ment so  happily  blended  with  history  as 
to  make  it  as  attractive  as  any  romance. 
There  is  no  better  book  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  boys  and  girls." — Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean. 

14  It  is  not  invidious  to  say  that  as  yet 
no  other  that  has  been  written  can  be 
compared  to  this,  were  it  only  because  no 
other  biographer  has  seen  Mr.  Lincoln  so 
near  and  so  completely." — New  York 
Times. 

n  Has  strong  claims  upon  the  interest 
and  attention  of  every  American.  .  .  . 
A  graphic  and  entertaining  biography,  as 
rich  in  incident  as  any  romance,  and  spark- 
ling with  wise  wit  and  racy  anecdote.  It 
comprises  a  large  mass  of  valuable  and 
judiciously  epitomized  information."— 
Harfier^s  Monthly. 


1  Vol.,  targe  8vo.   Illustrated.   English  Drake-Neck  Cloth,  $3.' 3$. 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  ParJc  Place,  New  York* 

Send  for  Select  Catalogue  of  Choice  American  Books. 


American  Historical  Novels. 


By  ALBIOH  W.  TOUEGEE,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Late  Judge  Superior  Court  of  North  Carolina. 


—  UNIFORM  EDITION.  

HOT  PLOWSHARES.    610  pp.    Illustrated.  $1.50. 

tl  Completes  that  series  of  historical  novels  .  .  .  which  have  illustrated  so  forci- 
bly and  graphically  the  era  of  our  civil  war — the  causes  that  led  up  to  it,  and  the  conse- 
quences resulting  from  it.  This  volume,  although  the  last,  covers  a  period  antecedent  to 
the  others.  The  opening  scene  of  the  story  is  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  in  central 
New  York,  and  the  time  is  November,  1848,  just  when  the  growing  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment of  the  country  was  beginning  to  make  itself  felt.    .    .    .    Forcible,  picturesque." 

—  Chicago  Evening  Journal. 

FIGS  and  THISTLES.  (A  Typical  American  Career.)  528  pp., 

with  Garfield  frontispiece.  $1.50. 

"Crowded  with  incident,  populous  with  strong  characters,  rich  in  humor,  and  from 
beginning  to  end  alive  with  absorbing  interest." — Commonwealth  (Boston.) 

"  It  is,  we  think,  evident  that  the  hero  of  the  book  is  James  A.  Garfield.'' — Atchison, 
(Kan.)  Champion. 

"  A  capital  American  story.  Its  characters  are  not  from  foreign  courts  or  the  pesti- 
lential dens  of  foreign  cities.  They  are  fresh  from  the  real  life  of  the  forest  and  prairie  of 
the  West." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

A  ROYAL  GENTLEMAN.    (Master  and  Slave.)  [Originally 
published  under  the  title  of  "  Toinette."~\    Including  also  Zouri's 
Christmas.    527  pp.    Illustrated.  $1.50. 
**  While,  with  no-political  discussions,  it  grasps  the  historic  lines  which  have  formed 
so  large  a  part  of  this  author's  inspiration,  it  mingles  with  them  the  threads  of  love, 
mystery,  adventure,  crime,  and  the  personal  elements  of  battlefield  and  hospital  in  such 
a  way  that  the  reader  is  led  on  by  the  most  absorbing  interest  in  the  characters  them- 
selves."— Albany  Evening  Journal^ 

A  FOOL'S  ERRAND  :  and,  The  Invisible  Empire.    (The  Re- 
construction Era.)    528  pp.    Illustrated.  $1.50. 

"  Holds  the  critic  spell-bound  English  literature  contains  no  similar  pic- 
ture."— International  Review.  "  Abounds  in  sketches  not  matched  in  the  whole  range 
of  modern  fiction." — Boston  Traveller.  "  Among  the  famous  novels  that,  once  written, 
must  be  read  by  everybody." — Portland  Advertiser. 

BRICKS  without  STRAW.    (The  Bondage  of  the  Freedmen.) 

j  522  pp.    Frontispiece.  $1.50. 
"  The  characters  are  real  creations  of  romance,  who  will  live  alongside  of  Mrs. 
Stowe's  ov*  Walter  Scott's  till  the  times  that  gave  them  birth  have  been  forgotten." — Ad- 
vance (Chicago). 

**  Since  the  days  of  Swift  and  his  pamphleteers,  we  doubt  if  fiction  has  been  made  to 
play  so  caustic  and  delicate  a  part." — San  Francisco  Nexus-Letter. 

—  ALSO  — 

JOHN  EAX.    (The  South  Without  the  Shadow.)  $1.00. 

"  V^xq genre  pictures  of  Southern  life,  scenes,  men,  women,  and  customs  drawn  by 
a  Northern  hand  in  a  manner  as  masterly  as  it  is  natural.  .  .  .  Such  books  as  Tour^ 
gee's  last  will  do  more  toward  bringing  Southern  and  Northern  people  into  complete 
social  and  business  intercourse  than  all  the  peace  conferences  and  soldier  reunions  that 
were  ever  held  since  the  war,  put  together.''  —  Vicksburg  (Miss.)  Herald. 


*#*  For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  mailed  by  the  Publishers, 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  Park  Place.  New  York. 


